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MANUAL 



or 



ANCIENT HISTORY, 



FROM 



THE EEMOTEST TIMES TO THE OVERTHROW OF 
THE WESTERN EMPIRE, A.D. 476. 



DR. LEONHAED SCHMITZ, F.R.S.E., 

RECTOR OF THE mOH SCHOOL OP EDINBXIRGn. 



WITH COPIOUS CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. 







PHILADELPHIA: 
BLANCHARD AND LEA. 

1859. 



COLLINS, PRINTER. 



PREFACE. 



The object of the present work is to furnisli a brief but 
complete summary of the history of antiquity, from the 
remotest times down to the overthrow of the Roman Empire 
in the West, in A. d. 476. The history of Greece and 
Rome is taught in all schools professing to give a liberal 
education, but this is often done to the entire exclusion of 
the other nations of antiquity, which, though they did not 
exercise an equally powerful influence either upon their 
contemporaries or upon posterity, yet ought not to be 
passed over by any one desirous to obtain a complete view, 
and form a correct estimate, of the ancient world. The 
present manual, therefore, embracing the history of all the 
nations of antiquity, is designed to present to the student, 
besides the histories of Greece and Rome, an outline of 
that of the non-classical nations, and to devote to each of 
them as much attention as their historical importance may 
seem to demand. 

The history of the Jewish nation does not form part of 
this manual, because it is felt that the history of that 
memorable people, in order to be in any way satisfactory, 
cannot be treated with the same brevity as that of other 
ancient nations ; it must further be assumed, that the 

(iii) 



IV PREFACE. 

history of the Jews is known to every Christian student 
from his Bible and the religious instruction he has received ; 
the sacred history, moreover, is of that peculiar kind that 
it ought not to be placed on a level with that of less 
favoured nations, it being essentially of a religious character, 
and every one ought to learn it from the Holy Scriptures, 
rather than from any summary abridgment. In order, 
however, to assist the biblical student, a brief chronology 
of Jewish history, from the Creation down to the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem, has been added to the Chronological 
Table at the end of the work. 

The whole manual is divided into three books, which may 
be regarded as three distinct courses of history; the first 
comprising the Asiatic nations and Egyptians ; the second, 
the Greeks, Macedonians, and the kingdoms that were 
formed out of the empire of Alexander the Great ; and 
the third, the Romans, Carthaginians, and the nations of 
south-western Europe. 

L. SCHMITZ. 

Edinburgh, April 1855. 



CONTENTS. 



PAOS 

Intboduction 25 

BOOK I. 

ASIATIC NATIONS. 

CHAPTER I. 
Geographical Sketch of Asia — The Earliest Social and Political Forms 
among Asiatic Nations 31 

CHAPTER II. 
China 36 

CHAPTER III. 
India 41 

CHAPTER IV. 
Iran (Bactria, Media, and Persia) 58 

CHAPTER V. 
Assyria and Babylonia 72 

CHAPTER VI. 
Phoenicia 81 

CHAPTER VII. 
Lydia 88 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Egypt 90 

1* (v^ 



VI CONTENTS. 



BOOK II. 

HISTORY OF GREECE, MACEDONIA, AND THE 
GRAECO-MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. 



CHAPTER I. PAGE 

Geographical Sketch of Greece Ill 

CHAPTER IL 
The Mythical Period of Greek History 116 

CHAPTER III. 
History of the Doric States, from the Return of the Heracleids down to 
the End of the Second Messenian War 131 

CHAPTER IV. 
National Institutions of the Greeks, and History of Attica down to the 
Persian Wars 144 

CHAPTER V. 
Greek Colonies, and the Progress of Art and Literature, from the 
Homeric Age to the Persian Wars 159 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Persian Wars down to the Establishment of the Supremacy of 
Athens 168 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Supremacy of Athens down to the Commencement of the Pelo- 
ponnesian War 187 

CHAPTER VIII. 
The Peloponnesian War 196 

CHAPTER IX. 
From the Close of the Peloponnesian AYar to the Peace of Autalcidas 219 

CHAPTER X. 
From the Peace of Antalcidas to the Battle of Chaeroneia 228 

CHAPTER XI. 
The Reign of Alexander the Great 242 



CONTENTS. VU 

CHAPTER XII. PAGE 

The Successors of Alexander until the Time of the Achaean League... 254 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Macedonia and Greece down to their Conquest by the Romans 260 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Asia and Egypt, under the Successors of Alexander the Great 271 



BOOK III. 

HISTORY OF ROME, CARTHAGE, AND THE NATIONS 
OF WESTERN EUROPE. 



CHAPTER I. 
Italy and its Inhabitants 278 

CHAPTER II. 
The Beginnings of Roman History down to the Establishment of the 
Republic 282 

CHAPTER III. 

From the Establishment of the Republic until the DecemYiral Legis- 
lation 293 

CHAPTER IV. 
From the Decemviral Legislation down to the Final Subjugation of 
Latium 300 

CHAPTER V. 
From the Subjugation of Latium to that of all Italy 309 

CHAPTER VL 
Carthage and Sicily , 316 

CHAPTER VIL 
The First Punic War down to the Outbreak of the Second...... -. 321 

CHAPTER VIIL 
The Second Punic Wai", the First and Second Macedonian Wai'is, and 
the War against Antiochus 328 



via CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. PAQ8 

From the Third War against Macedonia down to the Time of the 
Gracchi 336 

CHAPTER X. 
From the Time of the Gracchi down to the First War against Mithridates 343 

CHAPTER XL 
From the First War against Mitliridates down to the Death of Sulla... 352 

CHAPTER XII. 
From the Death of Sulla to the Outbreak of the Civil War between 
Caesar and Pompey 357 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Civil War between Pompey and Caesar, and the Subsequent Events, 
down to the Battle of Actium 367 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The Reign of Augustus 376 

CHAPTER XV. 
The Successors of Augustus down to the Death of Nero 381 

CHAPTER XVI. 
From the Death of Nero to that of Domitian 388 

CHAPTER XVII. 
From the' Accession of Nerva to the Death of M. Aurelius 392 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
From the Accession of Commodus to tLat of Diocletian 398 

CHAPTER XIX. 
From the Accession of Diocletian to the Division of the Empire 409 

CHAPTER XX. 
I From the Division of the Empire to the Overthrow of the Western 
Empire 421 

Chronological Table 433 

Index 457 



HISTORY 



THE NATIONS OF ANTIUUITY. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The name antiquity in its most general acceptation is commonly 
understood to comprise the whole period from the creation down to 
the overthrow of the western empire in a.d. 476, and the history 
of that vast expanse of time is termed the " History of Antiquity/' 
or " Ancient History." But neither the beginning nor the end of 
this history is the same for all the nations of antiquity. As to the 
beginning of the human race in general, it is obvious that, unless 
assisted by revelation, man could have possessed but very little or 
no knowledge at all, and after the creation of man many centuries 
must have passed away before those communities could be formed 
in the primitive seats of our race, which we term states or nations, 
and which alone form the subjects of general history. But even 
the beginnings of these national or political associations, to what- 
ever period they belong, do not yet constitute the beginning of real 
history, for the accounts of the formation of states and the founda- 
tion of cities are generally transmitted to later ages by mere oral 
tradition, which is ever changing and expanding, until in the end 
it is impossible to separate its nucleus of truth from what has grown 
upon and around it. Real history does not commence until the time 
when contemporary records of some kind or another are drawn up 
to assist the memory of man in preserving for posterity the memo- 
rials of a nation's life. We do not mean to assert that absolutely 
nothing can be known of those periods about which we have no 
contemporary records, for tradition also may hand down, and has 
handed down, a vast amount of information concerning past ages, 
but such information can never be as perfect and free from error as 
the accounts drawn up by contemporaries, or by persons living so 
near the events themselves, as to be able, with a reasonable amount 
3 (25) 



26 ANCIENTHISTORY. 

of judgment and discernment, to ascertain the ti*uth. Written re- 
cords fix for ever that which would otherwise be subject to a perpe- 
tual process of channjc and modification. 

The possibility of drawing up records of a nation's history de- 
pends upon a variety of circumstances, and, above all, upon the art 
of writing. As this art did not become known to all the ancient 
nations at once, but was gradually imparted by one to another, it 
follows that contemporary records were made in some countries at a 
much earlier period than in others, and it must be observed in 
general, that the Asiatic nations and the Egyptians practised the 
art of writing many centuries before it was introduced into Europe. 
Hence we possess authentic and trustworthy accounts of some 
Asiatic nations at a period when the history of Europe is still buried 
in utter darkness. Asia is the cradle of the human race, in Asia 
the first states were formed, and it is from Asia that Europe and 
Africa received their inhabitants. Hence the traditions and history 
of the Asiatic nations go back to more remote periods than those 
of any nation in Europe. 

AVhile thus the nations claiming our attention in antiquity widely 
differ in regard to the points at which their respective histories and 
traditions commence, the point at which antiquity terminates is no 
less different with different nations. The epoch generally assumed 
as the line of demarcation between antiquity and the middle ages, 
is the overthrow of the western empire of Rome, and, so far as the 
south-west of Europe is concerned, that event marks, in a suffi- 
ciently striking manner, the transition to an entirely new state of 
things : — all that was peculiar to the ancient world had then ceased, 
and a new order of things had sprung up; the ancient empire was 
broken to pieces, new kingdoms were built up on its ruins, and 
civilisation, which had before reached a certain culminating point, 
now began a new careei", struggling through many centuries of 
ignorance and barbarism, until in the end it rose to that height 
which constitutes the glory of our own age. But upon the eastern 
world that event exercised little or no influence, for the Greek em- 
pire continued its wretched existence for nearly a thousand years 
longer, and the Asiatic nations also preserved their previous forms 
and institutions without any material change, until the establish- 
ment of Mahommedanism revolutionised nearly the whole of western 
Asia and the north of Africa. The nations of central and eastern 
Asia, lastly, were not affected at all by the event which so com- 
pletely changed the aspect of western Europe. But notwithstand- 
ing this discrepancy, it is convenient, at least for Europeans, to 
regard the fall of the wcstefn empire of Rome as the termination 
of antiquity, and as the commencement of a new era in history. 
Down to tliis event, therefore, it is our intention in this manual to 
carry the history of the ancient nations. ' 



INTRODUCTION. 27 

It must not be inferred from the foregoing remarks that the 
history of the human race is altogether involved in impenetrable 
darkness during those remote periods, about which neither tradi- 
tions nor written records have come down to us, for there are other 
sources from which a certain amount of historical knowledge can 
be obtained, concerning man as well as concerning the globe he in- 
habits. The earth, and the mighty revolutions it has undergone 
since the days of its creation, and before it became the iit abode 
for man, are not, properly speaking, subjects of a history which is 
concerned about man alone; but being the scene of his joys and 
sorrows, its history, as revealed by the science of geology, and its 
description furnished by that of geography, are interesting, nay, 
indispensable handmaids to the history of man. Geology, though 
less necessary to a full understanding of the history of mankind, 
affords us some insight into the otherwise mysterious revolutions 
through which the earth has passed before assuming its present 
form and character. What geology is to the history of the earth, 
comparative philology has proved to be to the history of man. Ages 
about which all traditions and all histories are silent, would be like 
sealed books to us, were it not for comparative philology, a child 
of the nineteenth century ; for the analysis and comparison of lan- 
guages allow us every now and then to catch a glimpse of the rela- 
tions subsisting among nations often separated, during the historical 
times, by thousands of miles ; of the state of their civilization, and 
of their migrations, before they reached the countries in which 
ultimately they took up their permanent abode. One example may 
suffice to show the flood of light which comparative philology in 
our days has thrown upon the history of mankind : it is now estab- 
lished as a fact beyond all doubt, that the nations on the banks of 
the Ganges and the Indus, as well as the ancient Persians, spoke a 
language radically identical witli those spoken in Europe from the 
earliest times, including both Latin and Greek, and perhaps even 
the Etruscan. This great fact has dispelled a mass of false notions 
formerly entertained in regard to the ancient population of southern 
Europe. The radical identity of all these languages shows incon- 
trovertibly that there must have existed at one time a close connec- 
tion among the nations which speak them, and that in fact all these 
nations must have sprung from one common stock. Of this fact, 
neither tradition nor history has preserved the slightest trace. The 
primitive seats of man were in all probability in the north-west of 
India, or the highlands of Armenia; thence the branches spread 
in all directions, until the ocean set a limit to their migrations. It 
has thus been establislied that most of the races of men, from the 
Ganges in the east, to the Atlantic in the west, belong to one great 
family, and it is probable that further investigations will show that 
all the two thousand languages spoken by man are traceable to Dne 



28 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

common parent, and will tlius confirm the record of Genesis, that 
all mankind is descended from one common father and one common 
mother. The study of language will then dispel the idea of several 
originally distinct races, which physiologists have assumed for the 
purpose of explaining the physical difi'erences which present them- 
selves among the inhabitants of the several parts of our globe. 
There can be no doubt that, for practical purposes, it is useful to 
divide mankind, as it at present exists, into three or even six dif 
ferent races, each presenting peculiar characteristics, which neithei 
climate nor mode of living apparently ever produces ; but thougl 
this is true of the present age of the world, who will undertake t^ 
prove that it was so from the beginning ? Is it not possible that 
for many generations after his first creation man was more plastic 
and more easily afi"ected by climate and the other infiuences which 
at present are nearly inoperative in determining our physical and 
mental constitution ? If a man by living in central Africa does 
not now become a negro, it does not follow that it was always so ; 
and hence we conceive that the strongly marked difi'erences between 
existing races afibrd no ground for assuming, as many have done, 
that these difi'erences have existed from the day of creation, or that 
God created not one, but several pairs of human beings. 

Another means of furnishing us with some idea of the history 
of a nation, in the absence of literary memorials, is to be found in 
its architectural remains ; for even if they bear no inscriptions, or 
such inscriptions as cannot be deciphered and understood, the mere 
forms and structure of their houses, temples, tombs, and other 
edifices, often reveal to us at least some parts of a nation's life and 
history, and that too sometimes in a more vivid manner than written 
records would have done. Hence the mode of life of the Egyptians, 
and their ordinary pursuits, were known to the world from their 
sculptured monuments, long before the clue to the reading of the 
hieroglyphics had been discovered ; and the same may still be as- 
serted of the Etruscans, whose inscribed monuments have not yet 
been deciphered. 

It must not, however, be supposed that ancient history becomes 
authentic and continuous from the moment the art of writing is 
discovered and applied to the recording of events, for the earliest 
records are lost to us in almost every instance ; and even if they 
were extant, they would scarcely furnish more than the skeleton of 
history. We are therefore dependent upon later writers, who drew 
up their accounts by the aid of legends and traditions. The value 
of such accounts depends upon a variety of circumstances, and the 
historian is obliged to proceed with the utmost caution and wariness 
in examining, weighing, and discriminating the authenticity of the 
sources from which he derives his information. As a great many 
of the historical writings of the ancients have perished, he is often 



INTRODUCTION. 29 

teduced to the necessity of filling up gaps by combination and con- 
jecture, or from analogy. Even at periods about which his sources 
of information flow more copiously, he has to contend with difii- 
culties that are unknown to the historian of modern times. Such, 
for instance, is the unsettled state of ancient chronology. There 
was no chronological era common to all the nations of antiquity; 
every people had its own system ; and while some reckoned by lunar 
years, others computed time by solar ones ; with one nation, more- 
over, the year commenced at one season, while with another its be- 
ginning belonged to one quite different. To reduce all these discre- 
pancies to one uniform system of chronology is a matter of extreme 
difficulty, and we must often be satisfied, after all, with results only 
approximating to the truth. We cannot pretend in this work to 
enter into a critical examination of this and other knotty points 
connected with ancient history, but our object will be to give those 
results of modern inquiries which in our judgment appear to be 
best entitled to our acceptance. 

According to the principle that man, and more especially those 
political associations of men which we call states, are the proper 
subjects of history, all the nations that ever existed during the vast 
period of antiquity come within the compass of ancient history; 
but the claim they have upon our attention varies according to the 
degree of civilisation they attained, and the influence they exercised 
upon their contemporaries or upon posterity. In a work designed 
for the instruction of the young, moreover, it would be out of place 
to record all that is known of every state and tribe we meet with in 
ancient times. A selection therefore has to be made, and a nation 
deserves a more or less prominent place in history in the proportion 
in which it has either promoted or retarded the progress of man- 
kind in civilisation. In this view ancient history becomes consi- 
derably narrowed ; it must not, however, be imagined that the lesa 
important nations will be passed over altogether; they will receive 
their due share of attention, whenever they emerge from their 
obscurity and come in contact with other more influential branches 
of the human family. The sacred history of the Jews, however, 
or the account of the direct interference of God in the affairs of 
the Jewish nation, will be excluded from the present work, partly 
because it is, or ought to be, familiar to every one, and partly be- 
cause it appears to us to be more adapted for religious than for 
historical instruction, being altogether distinct from ordinary poli- 
tical histoi-y. 

There is yet another method by which the domain of ancient 
history is sometimes reduced. For thei'e are historians who confine 
themselves to the consideration of those nations whose history has 
been transmitted to us by the writers of the two classical nations 
of antiquity, the Greeks and Romans, and pass over all others 
3 * 



30 ANCIENT HISTORY. 

whose history has become known to us during the middle ages and 
in modern times, partly from native records, and partly through 
travellers and missionaries. It will be our endeavour in the present 
work to set no such limits to our undertaking, but to pass in review 
all the great nations of antiquity, from whatever sources our infor- 
mation regarding them may be derived, and thus to exhibit before 
the young student, in broad outlines, as complete a picture of the 
ancient world as can be produced by the extended knowledge of the 
present age. Much that it would be interesting to know and to 
understand more thoroughly, will still remain obscure, being seen 
only through the mist of the many centuries which separate us from 
the events presented to our contemplation. 

As the development of the human race has, on the whole, fol- 
lowed the daily course of the sun, we shall begin with the nations 
of eastern Asia, and thence proceed westward till we reach the 
shores of the Atlantic, beyond which ancient history does not 
extend. 



BOOK I. 

ASIATIC NATIONS, 



CHAPTER I. 

GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF ASIA. — THE EARLIEST SOCIAL AND 
POLITICAL FORMS AMONG ASIATIC NATIONS. 

1. Asia is traversed by an immense plateau or high table-land, 
intercepted by numerous elevations and depressions of the ground, 
and occupying nearly one-half of the continent. This extends from 
the Black sea in the West, to the sea of Corea in the East of China, 
and consists of two main parts, which may be termed the eastern 
(the larger) and the western highlands of Asia. The former did 
not become known to the classical nations of antiquity until a very 
late period, and the ancients call it Scythia, beyond mount Imaus. 
This eastern highland bears throughout an almost uniform charac- 
ter, though its chains of mountains have many breaks and interrup- 
tions. It is surrounded on all sides by lofty ranges of mountains, 
either in such a manner that the enclosed table-land sinks down 
towards its centre, from which the mountains gradually rise on all 
sides, or the surrounding mountains rise directly from the edge of 
the table-land. The former is the case in the north, where mount 
Altai forms a kind of circumvallation, while the latter form appears 
more in the south, about the Himalayan mountains, the northern 
foot of which rises from the very edge of the table-land. These 
mountains and highlands were regarded by the earliest inhabitants 
of the East as the centre of the earth's surface, as the habitation of 
the gods and of the blessed, where peace, and light, and splendour 
reigned for ever, and where war and death were unknown. It is 
true, all the countries of Asia are grouped around those highlands 
as around a mighty citadel ; but the notion that they were the abode 
of happiness appears to have arisen only from the sublime grandeur 
of the mountains, for in reality the life of the tribes inhabiting 
them was poor and wretched, when compared with that of the nations 
occupying the plains, abounding in the most luxurious vegetation 
and in all the richest gifts of nature ; for the former were for the 
most part nomades, that is, tribes wandering with their flocks and 
herds over the extensive steppes, sometimes overrunning as con- 

(31) 



32 ASIATICNATIONS. 

querors the more fertile countries around their high lands. Their 
mode of life, without any towns or fixed habitations, with few wants, 
and these easily satisfied, remained the same for ages, and it was 
impossible for them to make any considerable progress in civilisation. 
Hence they remained far behind the surrounding nations that lived 
under more favourable circumstances. 

From the central table-land the countries sink down towards the 
seas in the most different forms : mighty rivers with numerous 
tributaries form extensive water-systems, which are at the same time 
the great high roads along which the nations have migrated. The 
northern part of Asia, sloping down from the central highlands, the 
modern Siberia, does not come into consideration in ancient history, 
but the eastern, southern, and western slopes are the scenes of the 
manifold struggles and developments of the Asiatic nations, which 
will engage our attention. In many of these countries, history, 
even in the remotest times, meets with regularly organized states, 
sometimes even displaying a splendour and magnificence bordering 
upon the fabulous. Wealthy cities with superb temples and palaces 
form the centres of civilisation and refinement, and an extensive com- 
merce supplies them with the comforts and luxuries, for which the 
East has at all times been proverbial. But the very bounties of 
nature, which almost dispensed with the labour of man, at the same 
time rendered him incapable of vigorous exertion, and checked his 
progress, or caused him to sink into listless indolence. 

2. All the nations we meet with in ancient history — with the ex- 
ception, perhaps, of the Chinese and a few others — belong to one 
of two great races, Indo-Germanic and the Semitic. The languages 
of these two races, notwithstanding their almost endless varieties, 
prove incontestably that each of them must have descended from 
one common root. The Semitic race embraces not only those nations 
which, according to the Mosaic account, are descended from Shem, 
that is, the Hebrews and Arabs, but all the tribes from the Tigris 
to the Mediterranean and the Red sea. It is accordingly encircled 
by the far more extensive territories inhabited by branches of the 
Indo-Germanic race, which comprises, in Asia, the Indians and 
Persians, and in Europe, the Greeks, Ilomans, Celts, Germans, 
Slavonians, and Lithuanians. It is owing to this greater extension 
of the Indo-Germanic race that the languages spoken by its difi'erent 
branches differ more widely from one another than those of the 
Semitic. For thousands of years these two races have been the 
great promoters of civilisation, sometimes the one rising higher in 
the scale and sometimes the other. Their characters diverged at a 
very early period, but they have nevertheless exercised a consider- 
able influence upon each other, and at times have contended with 
each other for the sovereignty of the world. The most striking 
differences between them may be briefly stated thus : The Semites 



OENERALRE MARKS. 33 

are distinguislied for their quick and keen perception, for their bold 
and restless spirit of enterprise, for their obstinate perseverance in 
the pursuit of their objects, for their spirit of exclusiveness in the 
possession of what they have gained, for their strong passions and 
sensual propensities, and, above all, for their strong desire to com- 
prehend the will of the deity, and their lofty aspirations in religion. 
It is owing to this last circumstance that the religious systems 
recognising the existence of only one true God, have originated 
among Semitic nations. The Indo- Germanic race, embracing a 
multitude of nations of different degrees of civilisation and of diffe- 
rent capabilities, is not so easily characterised ; but still the more 
prominent among its branches possess greater clearness and calm- 
ness of mind, and greater powers of reflection, than the Semites; 
they exhibit great genius for organisation, and a wonderful capability 
for developing the various circumstances in which they are placed, 
as well as for literature and the arts, in the last of which the Semites 
have always been far behind them. Their minds being very docile 
and plastic, they have in later times not only adopted the religious 
systems of the Semites, but advanced and developed them so much, 
that at present they far surpass their original instructors. They 
have, in fact, developed all that is great and noble in man to such 
a degree, as to outstrip all other races. 

3. Many Asiatic nations have, or pretend to have, traditions 
about their existence as states, which go back many thousands of 
years before the commencement of the Christian era. It need hardly 
be remarked that such traditions are of no historical value; the 
account now universally adopted in Christendom, and at the same 
time the most plausible in itself, is that contained in the Scriptures, 
according to which the first pair of human beings was created about 
four thousand years before the birth of Christ. It is impossible to 
determine the part of Asia where our first parents were placed by 
their creator, nor can we trace with any accuracy the gradual in- 
crease and extension of our race. All we know is, that in the 
course of time men spread from Asia over the two other ancient 
continents of Africa and Europe. The Mosaic account divides all 
the nations of the earth according to their descent from the three 
sons of Noah, viz., Shem, Ham, and Japhet — Shem being described 
'iS the ancestor of the Semitic race, Ham as the father of the Egyp- 

ians and iVfricans, and Japhet as the progenitor of the inhabitants 
Df Asia Minor and Europe. But we have already observed that 
language is the only safe criterion in classifying the different 
branches of the human family, and the study of languages, as it 
advances, points more and more distinctly to one common stock of 
human beings — all physiological differences of races being, in all 
probability, the result of accident and of outward circumstances 

4. The character and the institutions, social and political, of the 



34 ASIATICNATIONS. 

Asiatic nations have, on the whole, undergone very few changes, 
and their present condition is not very diiFerent from what it was 
thousands of years ago. All of them reached a certain degree of 
civilisation, and it cannot be denied that in some instances very 
great progress was made, but none of them ever advanced beyond 
a certain point, at which they either remained stationary, or from 
which they sank back into a state of semi-barbarism. The causes 
of this phenomenon are found partly in the climate of southern 
Asia, where the luxurious productiveness of nature supports man 
without much exertion on his part, and where the easy mode of 
life allowed him to sink into a state of indolence and apathy, which 
proved to be the greatest obstacle to a steady and progressive deve- 
lopment. Other causes may be found in the social and political 
relations of the eastern nations, some of which may be traced again 
to climatic influences. 

5. Ever since the beginning of the human race, or at least so 
far as we can trace its history, the strong has always subdued the 
weak, the rich has oppressed the poor, and the cunning has cheated 
the simple. He who had the power, claimed the right to rule over 
the weaker as his subjects or his slaves; and this state of inequality 
descended from father to son, and from generation to generation ; 
it was regarded even by great philosophers as the natural and legi- 
timate state of things. Women, being the weaker sex, were treated 
in Asia only as the means of gratifying the passions, and promoting 
the comforts of men ; the wife, in her relation to her husband, was 
no more than a servant ; and the natural consequence was, that a 
man took to himself as many such servants as he was able to main- 
tain. Polygamy was the natural off'shoot of such a degraded view 
of the matrimonial relation, in which the husband considered him- 
self to have many rights, but no duties. This evil, which has 
existed in Asia from time immemorial, and still degrades both sexes 
in eastern countries, renders a family life similar to that of Europe 
an impossibility; it destroys the natural relation between parent 
and child, and causes that between husband and wife to be almost 
the same as between a master and his slave, which debases both. 

6. As a state is only an extended fomily, it is but natural to ex- 
pect, in the larger community, vices and virtues analogous to those 
prevailing in the family. Despotism, therefore, is the form of go- 
vernment which we have to look for in the East ; and it may be 
asserted in general, that the despotism exercised by the head of a 
state is of a more unmitigated character than that practised by the 
head of a family; for in the latter the members come into closer 
and more frequent contact, both with one another and with the 
head, and the obedience and kind offices of the one party cannot 
fail to draw forth gratitude and affection from the other. In the 
state, the despot, living in haughty seclusion from his subjects, 



FORMS OP GOVERNMENT. 35 

stands to them in no relation that might develop his better feelings. 
Despotism, which, during the historical periods of Eastern history, 
is the established form of government, seems nevertheless not to 
have been the original one, which must rather have contained ele- 
ments of both liberty and servitude. The earliest form of govern- 
ment in Asia appears to have been the patriarchal, in which the 
cead of a family, or of an aggregate of fiimilies, that is, a tribe, 
exci'cised the sovereign power. Such a community, pi-oud of its 
real or imaginary ancestor or founder, of its deeds of valour, and 
other distinctions, might be either extremely exclusive, or might 
admit strangers to the same rights and privileges as those enjoyed 
by the men boasting one common origin. This form of government 
is generally preserved longest among a nomadic people. Such a 
people at first scarcely shows any distinction among the parts of 
which it is composed. A priestly class may, in some instances, 
begin to separate itself from the rest ; but the head and centre of 
the whole nation is always the chief who has succeeded to those 
rights and distinctions which, in the belief of all, belonged to their 
first progenitor by the law of nature. Their wandering mode of life 
renders it necessary for the nation to be always ready for war, either 
to repel aggression, or to conquer new pastures for their herds and 
flocks. The personal contact of the patriarchal ruler with bis sub- 
jects softens his relation to them in a similar manner as that sub- 
sisting in a family between the head and the members. A change 
takes place, when different tribes join together under one chief, and 
this change is most striking when a nomadic tribe succeeds in sub- 
duing an agricultural people with fixed habitations. In this case 
the conquered are treated at first in a very different way from tl\e 
conquerors : the chief treats them as slaves belonging to him by 
the right of conquest. If the nomadic tribe settle in the conquered 
country, and amalgamate with the original inhabitants, the chief, 
in the course of time, assumes the same power and authority over 
them as over the subject people ; both become slaves, and despotism 
is complete. As the possession of unlimited power, pride, and self- 
indulgence, are little calculated to improve and ennoble man, 
despotism generally proceeds from bad to worse. The Asiatic nations 
have never risen to the idea of political freedom : the man who is a 
despot in his domestic circle submits with abject servility to the 
commands and caprices of those whom circumstances have placed 
ibove him. 

7. Among all the more important nations of the East, we find a 
more or less complete system of castes, whereby the descendants are 
bound to follow the same pursuits as their parents. States based 
upon the system of castes, are probably of later origin than patriarchal 
states, for it may be assumed that the establishment of castes is 
always the result of conquest. The classes distinguished for their 



36 ASIATICNATIONS. 

knowledge, for their military prowess, or for wealth, subduing others, 
naturally assume higher powers, and contrive to preserve them for 
their descendants. Knowledge and valour naturally gain the ascend- 
ancy over a nation in its first stage of development, and hence the 
castes of priests and warriors everywhere appear as the first and 
most powerful. Wisdom and knowledge are regarded as gifts vouch- 
safed by the Deity to his ministers alone ; and priests accordingly 
are the teachers and advisers not only of the people, but also of the 
rulers, over whom their influence is often so great as to eclipse the 
power of the military chief — his claims being based on no higher 
authority than that of the sword. The military caste, from which 
the ruler is generally taken, forms a kind of nobility, which, like 
the knights of the middle ages, keeps the rest of the population in 
subjection by the constant practice and exercise in arms; they 
secure to their descendants the same rights and privileges by early 
training and habit. The other castes are always found subordinate 
to these two, though among them also there is a gradation of rank 
and dignity. It may appear strange and unnatural to us to compel 
a son to follow the same trade or profession as his father, as talent 
and inclination seem indispensable to success ; but we must not 
overlook the important influence of early training and habit, which, 
even in our own age and country, generally induce the sons of 
agi'iculturists to follow the occupation of their fathers. In the early 
ages of the world, the institution of castes may even have been very 
beneficial ; but when it becomes an obstacle to the free development 
of individual energy, its influence is of a paralysing nature ; and if 
it remains unreformed, the state itself decays, or continues a mono- 
tonous existence, without progress and without imjirovement. Even 
while in its highest prosperity, the form of government in such a 
state is despotic — either the priests exercising an undue influence, 
or the military chief ruling unchecked, or at least controlled only 
by priestly authority. 

Such are the principal forms of government we meet with in the 
south and cast of Asia, and it is only in the western parts, as we 
approach nearer to Europe, that we find any modifications forming a 
kind of transition to the freer institutions of European life. 



CHAPTER II. 

CHINA. 

1. China, which forms a vast empire in the east of Asia, consists 
»f the slopes or terraces from the central highlands of Asia, and of 
>xtensive and fertile lowlands traversed by large rivers and inter- 



CHINA. 37 

sected by an immense number of canals. Its inhabitants, belonging 
to the Mongol race, differ from Europeans more widely than any 
other civilised nation. They are the only branch of the Mongols 
that has attained any considerable degree of civilisation, but their 
progress appears to have been checked thousands of years ago, and 
ever since that time the nation has been stationary, so that it can 
scarcely be said to have any history at all. Even the repeated eon- 
quests of the country by foreign invaders from the highlands of 
Asia have produced no changes, for the conquerors being less 
civilised than the conquered, generally adopted the manners, laws, 
and language of the conquered Chinese. This stationary character 
of the nation is regarded in China as the only true basis of happi- 
ness and civil order, and is for this reason enforced by its rulers. 
What has once been established must for ever remain unaltered, 
and all education consists in a mere mechanical training to move 
within certain fixed forms ; and to do nothing but what somebody 
else has done before, is considered as a sign of the most con.summate 
wisdom. The mariner's compass, gunpowder, and even a kind of 
printing, were invented by the Chinese at a remote period; but 
while in European countries these things have been the means of 
gigantic progress and reforms, the Chinese have never employed 
thera to any great pi-actical purpose, nor have they carried them 
beyond certain rude and clumsy beginnings. The future destiny 
of China, therefore, must be a continuance of its stagnation, unless 
the nation be shaken by violent convulsions out of its lethargic 
condition. 

2. The language of the Chinese is as peculiar as the people them- 
selves. Its whole vocabulary consists of about four hundred and 
fifty monosyllabic words, which, being pronounced with different 
intonations or accents, produce about one thousand two hundred 
and three different words. The consequence of this poverty of the 
language is, that many words, though pronounced in the same way, 
have very different meanings, which, in some instances, are not fewer 
than thirty or forty. The inconveniences and misunderstandings 
arising from such a language may easily be imagined. The Chinese 
language has in reality no grammar at all ; for declensions and con- 
jugations, and all the variety of other (Changes, and the numberless 
prefixes and suffixes by which in other languages so many relations 
are expressed, are entirely unknown, and the relations of words to 
one another are indicated by their position alone. The writing of 
the Chinese is not alphabetic, but consists of compound and strangely 
formed characters or signs representing words, and their vast num- 
ber forms a singular contrast with the poverty of the spoken lan- 
guage, for the Chinese dictionaries contain between three and four 
thousand different signs or symbols of this kind. There can be no 
doubt that originally these signs were of a hieroglyphic or pictorial 
4 



38 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

character, and that in the course of time they were so much altered 
as to become in the end mere conventional symbols. Only very few 
of these signs represent sounds or syllables. 

3. This stiffness and want of elasticity in their language have 
produced corresponding effects upon the minds of the Chinese, and 
have also stamped their character upon their philosophy and religion. 
The ancient religion of the Chinese — we are not speaking here of 
Buddhism, which was imported at a later period from abroad — was 
extremely poor and meagre, and it is said that their language does 
not even contain a word or symbol for a spiritual or divine being. 
Confucius (properly Kong-fu-tse), their celebrated philosopher, who 
lived about the year b. c. 500, as well as his disciples and followers, 
never alluded to the existence of a spiritual being as the creator and 
ruler of the universe, whence Confucianism is little better than 
Atheism. In his time, it is said, all the relations of social and civil 
order were in a state of utter dissolution, and he, by inculcating a 
strict and pure system of ethics, endeavoured to restore the morality 
and happiness of former ages. To' this great object he devoted all 
the energies of his life ; but he did not live to see the fruits of his 
labours, for it was not till after his death that his countrymen, ap- 
preciating his doctrines, really commenced the work of reform, and 
made his ethical system the soul of their social and political life. 
This tradition seems to be perfectly correct, and is borne out even 
by the present condition of the Chinese people. The moral* code 
of Confucius teaches the most absolute submission of children to 
the will of their parents, of wives to that of their husbands, and 
of the whole nation to that of its rulers. The idea of freedom or 
of a self-determining will is not recognised at all. 

4. But notwithstanding this total absence of freedom and the 
paralysing influence of the immutable adherence to established 
forms and doctrines, there has been, within a limited sphere, a con- 
siderable amount of intellectual activity. The literature of the 
Chinese is rich, and the industry of their learned men and scholars 
ought not to be undervalued, although the intellectual interests of 
their country have not been much advanced by them. Poetry in 
particular, in which the feelings of men have found an outlet even 
among nations far less favoxirably circumstanced than the Chinese, 
has been cultivated to a considerable extent. The novels produced 
by the Chinese are distinguished by a certain refinement, but are 

nly pictures of their own life, which strictly moves in certain pre- 
scribed forms. Their lyric poetry is freer and moi-e natural. A 
collection of the best literary productions is ascribed to Confucius ; 
it is related that when he commenced the work of reforming his 
countrymen, he collected in six books every thing that had been 
written in earlier ages, and seemed to him suited to assist him in 
his endeavours. One of these books, which bear the name of Kings, 



CHINA. 39 

is lost, but the remaining five are to this day regarded by the Chinese 
as the canonical and sacred books of their literature. One of them, 
called Y-king, contains a kind of symbolic philosophy; the Chu-king 
and Tcheu-tsieou treat of historical and political subjects; the 
Li-king of customs and ceremonies, and the Chi-king, lastly, forms 
a collection of three hundred and eleven national songs, which Con- 
fucius is said to have selected out of three thousand. In the third 
century before Christ nearly all the literary treasures of the Chinese 
were destroyed by fire, whence the authenticity of those books may 
fairly be questioned, though the Chi-king seems to be genuine, as 
lyric poems can be most easily retained and propagated by oral 
tradition. These poems, in the opinion of those conversant with 
the Chinese language, are full of grace and beauty, and are mostly 
I expressive of grief and sorrow, as if they had been composed at a 
time when the natural feelings of the nation began to perceive the 
artificial restraint that was beginning to be imposed upon them. 

5. The historical literature of China, so far as antiquity is con- 
cerned, is extremely meagre, and cannot be regarded as containing 
trustworthy records. The Greek and Roman writers furnish us 
with no information whatever, unless we suppose, as some have 
done, that the Seres, the silk merchants of the ancient world, are 
the Chinese. Whatever we know, therefore, about ancient China 
is derived from native sources, and from the reports of missionaries 
and travellers — the former of which can scarcely be called authentic, 
while the latter are often scanty and incomplete ; for the Chinese 
have at all times been extremely vigilant in excluding from their 
country all foreigners, who might have gathered information, and 
communicated it to Europeans. The Chinese traditions, tracing the 
history of the empire back many thousands of years before the 
Christian era, state that their ancestors came into the country from 
the mountains in the north-west, and, finding it occupied by bar- 
barous tribes, gradually extirpated or subdued them ; and those 
whose lives were spared adopted the customs and language of the 
conquerors, and united with them as one nation. But it is admitted 
on all hands that the earliest periods of Chinese history are quite 
fabulous; and the most ancient dynasty of Chinese sovereigns that 
may be looked upon as historical, is that of Hia, which ascended 
the throne about the year B. c. 2207. As the art of writing is un- 
questionably very ancient in China, it is not impossible that written 
records of that remote period may have been preserved; but, in 
consequence of the general destruction of Chinese literature, which, 
as already mentioned, took place in the third century before Christ, 
the historical annals of China which have come down to our time 
cannot be accepted as trustworthy records. The account of this 
general catastrophe of Chinese literature runs as follows: — Under 
the third dynasty, called Cheu, the great chiefs in the various parts 



40 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

of the empire made themselves almost independent; they recognised 
the supremacy of the emperor scarcely more than nominally, and 
threw the empire into a complete state of anarchy by the incessant 
wars among themselves. One of the chiefs, of the house of Zin, 
put an end to this state of things by subduing all his rivals, and 
usurping the imperial throne itself. The most powerful ruler of 
this (the fourth) dynasty was Shi-hoang-ti, who, in order to crush 
all attempts of the conquered chiefs to recover their dominions, and 
to deprive them of all documentary evidence by which they might 
establish their claims, ordered all literary productions of the pre- 
ceding dynasties to be burned. After the death of Shi-hoang-ti,j 
however, about B. c. 200, the house of Zin perished as rapidly as it 
had risen, and was succeeded by the dynasty of Han, which, not 
deeming a knowledge of the past dangerous to its own existence, 
ordered the books to be restored. Careful inquiries were made after 
any remains which might have escaped destruction, and a number 
of fragments were brought together. But the most important source 
is said to have been the memory of an old man, who pretended to 
know by heart all the ancient annals of the empire, and from whose 
dictation they were restored. Now, even admitting that originally 
the written records went back as far as the twenty-third century B. c, 
we can hardly conceive that a nation's histoiy restored in this man- 
ner should be authentic and complete. Hence the most competent 
Chinese historians assert that the commencement of really trust- 
worthy accounts cannot be dated farther back than the eighth century 
before the Christian era. But, even subsequent to this latter epoch, 
Chinese history is by no means like what we call history in western 
Asia or Europe, for we have absolutely nothing but records of ex- 
ternal events, consisting of rebellions, usurpations, and changes of 
dynasties, the people itself being treated as an inert mass, which 
never comes into consideration. Such a history, which scarcely 
deserves the name, presents nothing that is either pleasing or in- 
structive ; and those who wish to study it must be referred to the 
works specially devoted to the elucidation of Chinese history. 

6. The stationary character of the Chinese nation is mainly owing 
to three causes : — 1. The obstinacy with which the people cling to 
their ancient habits and customs, and repel every attempt at change 
or reform ; 2. The fact that the empire is separated from the rest 
of the world by mountains and seas — a separation which the Chinese 
themselves have strengthened by the construction of the celebrated 
wall, which runs for about fifteen hundred miles along the northern 
frontier of China. It extends over mountains, some of which are 
five thousand feet in height, and runs across rivers and valleys. Its 
average height is twenty feet, and its breadth at the base twenty- 
five, and at the top fifteen. The object of this immense rampart, 
was to protect the empire against the incursions of the Tartars. 



INDIA. 41 

This end, however, was not always attained, and even the imperial 
family at present reigning in China is of Manchoo Tartar origin, 
and has been on the throne for upwards of two centuries. 3. The 
absolute power of the emperor, who is regarded as the representative 
of God upon earth, and is styled " the Son of Heaven." He and 
his aristocracy of learned men, called Mandarins, treat the great 
body of the people as imbecile children, and by every means pre- 
vent their becoming acquainted with the events that are going on 
in the world around them. The experiences of foreign nations, 
therefore, are shut out from the Chinese, and notwithstanding their 
astonishing skill in some of the mechanical arts and manufactures, 
they have in general always been far behind the western nations. 
Their form of government is a kind of patriarchal despotism. Agri- 
culture, the most ancient and most honoured occupation, is under 
the special patronage of the emperor, who at a stated period in 
every year performs the ceremony of ploughing a few furrows ; and 
the empress encourages the manufacture of silk, by planting every 
year with her own hands a few mulberry trees. Events are going 
on at this moment within the celestial empire, which may possibly 
break the fetters that have compelled the Chinese for thousands of 
years to walk like children in leading-strings, and throw down the 
barriers which have so long isolated their country from the rest of 
the world, and prevented it from accepting a healthier civilisation. 



CHAPTER III. 



INDIA, 

1. India, the easternmost country of Asia known to the ancients, 
is bounded on the north by the gigantic chain of the Himalaya 
mountains, on the south of which it extends in the form of two 
peninsulas. The western is now called Hindostan, and the eastern 
Further India, or sometimes India beyond the Ganges. The western 
peniusula is divided into two almost equal parts by a range of 
mountains running from east to west. The part on the north of 
the.se mountains is the real continental Hindostan, and that on the 
south was formerly called Deccan. The central part of the northern 
division contains extensive low lands, which are richly watered by 
the great rivers Indus and Ganges, and their numerous tributaries. 
The eastern coast of the peninsula is mostly flat, while the northern 
and western parts are mountainous, and in some districts form high 
table-lands. This great variety in the aspects of the country, in its 
4 * 



42 ASIATICNATIONS. 

elevations and depressions, produces the greatest climatic differences; 
for while the plains and valleys are in every respect tropical coun- 
tries, and while the mountainous parts are during the greater portion 
of the year free from excessive heat, the highest mountains display 
the phenomena of the polar I'egions, and the lower parts have all the 
characteristics of the temperate zones. Hence India within its whole 
extent, from the Himalaya mountains to its southernmost points, 
presents a variety of climate and productions, such as no other 
country in the world can boast of. 

2. The variety of the inhabitants of India is almost equally great. 
"We call the people of India Indians or Hindoos — a name which 
the Greeks derived from the Persians, and which has thence passed 
into modern languages ; but the ancient native appellation was 
Arya, that is "honourable men," the name assumed by the three 
higher castes of Indians, to distinguish themselves, as the observers 
of the sacred laws, from the Mlekha, that is, barbarians, or despisers 
of the law. Although the complexion of the higher Indian castes 
is darker than that of their northern neighbours, still they belong 
to the same Caucasian race, and form the easternmost branch of the 
great Indo-Germanic family of nations. Their neighbours in the 
north-west are nearest akin to the Arya in language, and in fact called 
themselves by the same name. This strong resemblance between 
the two nations may be either purely geographical, as they inhabit 
contiguous countries, or it is a proof that their separation from each 
other is more recent than that of the other branches of the same 
stock. As all of them must have had one common origin and 
country, the question presents itself, whether Hindostan itself can 
have been that country. It seems clear that their common home 
must have been a country from which they could spread in different 
directions, for which Hindostan was ill suited ; but it is both inti- 
mated by tradition, and also highly probable in itself, that the 
original country of Indo-Germanic race was the mountainous district 
in the north and north-west of India. From that district the 
Indians seem to have migrated southward through the Punjaub, and 
thus to have spread over the peninsula, while other branches moved 
to the north and west. These immigrants, no doubt, found an 
earlier race established in India, and remnants of such a race may 
still be traced in the southern parts. The physiognomy of these 
latter resembles that of the Caucasian race, but their complexion is 
darker, and their language is altogether different. Hence it may 
be assumed that they belong to another stock of nations : they 
possess some features resembling those of the negroes of Africa. 

3. This invading race of the Arya, being possessed of great 
natural talents and a fine mental organisation, has developed a very 
remarkable and peculiar civilisation, which, long before Greece 
reached its intellectual supremacy, displayed a variety, extent, and 



C M M E R C E F I N DI A . 43 

refinement, never attained, either before or after, by any other 
Asiatic nation. Their intellectual activity was not limited in its 
effects and influences to India itself, but even China, otherwise so 
impatient and jealous of foreign influence, received the religion of 
the majority of its inhabitants from India. The Indians never 
appear as conquerors, nor do we hear of any great emigrations, by 
which Indian civilisation might have been diffused over other 
countries; but there are nevertheless traces of Indian colonies in 
the eastern parts of Asia, and Indian settlers are said to have intro- 
duced into the island of Java their religion, their laws, manners, 
arts, and sciences. Notwithstanding all this, it must be owned that 
the influence exercised by India upon the other Asiatic nations 
has been comparatively small. In regard to commerce, however, 
India occupies the foremost rank among the eastern nations — not 
that her merchants travelled much to foreign countries to dispose of 
their goods, but, as a general rule, the merchants from western Asia 
fetched the products of India, and sold them to their own countrymen 
or among Europeans. The commerce of the Indians consisted almost 
exclusively in exporting the treasures in which India abounded, or 
which their own industry produced. The wealth and productiveness 
of the country allowed very little scope for importation from abroad. 
What was obtained from India was not so much a supply of the 
actual necessaries of life, as of objects of splendour and luxury, 
such as pearls, precious stones, ivory, cotfon and silk stuffs, spices, 
and incense. As regards silk, the general opinion is that it was 
only woven in India, the material itself being imported from China; 
but there are good reasons for assuming that the breeding of the 
silk-worm is very ancient in India, and that it was introduced there 
from China at a very remote period. Our accounts of the ancient 
commerce of India are very fragmentary and obscure, because the 
goods exported from it had to pass through many hands before they 
reached the nations of westei-n Asia and Europe; and the most 
extravagant notions became current in western countries of the 
extraordinary wealth of India. Our present knowledge of the 
ancient language of India has somewhat dispelled these notions, and 
furnished more correct information about Indian commerce. Goods 
exported from a country generally carry their native appellations 
with them, and the names of very many articles, originally brought 
from India, still retain their Indian names, which have been adopted 
into the languages of li^urope, for instance, tin, pepper, opal, eme- 
rald, and many others. 

4. Formerly our information about ancient India was derived 
solely from the Greeks, who, although the country was not unknown 
to them before, and was even connected with some of their mythical 
legends, yet did not possess any authentic information about it until 
the time of Alexander the Great, who conquered a portion of it, and 



44 ASIATICNATIONS. 

made tis countrymen and the inquisitive Greeks acquainted with 
the land, about which, until then, only vague and fabulous reports 
had been current in the west. But as the occupation of India by 
the Grteco-Macedoniaus was not of long duration, the information 
derivable from Greek writers is very scanty and defective, when 
compared with that which has been gained within the last sixty or 
seventy years from the study of the native literature of India, and 
from a comparison of its language with those of the principal nations 
of Europe, the radical identity of which was unknown until, towards 
the end of last century, the English, and especially Sir W. Jones, 
directed the attention of the learned to it. The language, poetry, 
and philosophy of the ancient Indians have since that time been 
subjects of deep and extensive study, and have laid open to us trea- 
sures of an intellectual activity in India, of which previously no one 
had any idea. In addition to these literary remains, temples, 
sculptures, ruins of cities, inscriptions, coin, and other monuments 
of very ancient date, enable us to form tolerably correct notions of 
what ancient India once was. A comparison of what we know of 
modern India with what has been transmitted to us by the ancient 
Greeks, seems to show, that in the days of Alexander the Great, it 
was nearly in the same condition in which it was found in modern 
times by the first Europeans who visited the country. Hence it is 
clear that the Indians, though superior in intellect and in the variety 
and depth of their culture, yet, like other Asiatic nations, were 
checked in their career at a certain point, beyond which, on the 
whole, they did not advance. 

5. But the historical information derived from the writings of 
the Indians themselves is likewise very unsatisfactory; for they had 
scarcely any historical literature at all, and in regard to chronology 
there are scarcely even two or three points in their ancient history 
that can be fixed with any precision. Their traditions were era- 
bodied in epic poems, which, though we must suppose them to have 
some historical basis, yet are so full of fanciful and fantastic occur- 
rences, that it is far more difficult to discover the historical kernel 
than in the epic poetry of any other nation. Those poems, more- 
over, have not come down to us in their original form, but with 
numerous alterations and interpolations. The period of epic poetry 
was not followed in India, as it was in Greece, by one of plain his- 
torical narrative, which in fact appears to have had no interest for 
the imaginative and fanciful Indian. All the historical information 
transmitted to us by the Indians themselves is limited to a few dry 
lists of kings, and even these are anything but authentic. They 
carry us back as far as the fourteenth century before Christ, whence 
we may assume, that that time forms a kind of beginning of the 
historical period. The appearance of Alexander in India is inte- 
restiutr, for his historians mention the names of Indian rulers whose 



THE INDIAN CASTES. 45 

chronology is thereby fixed beyond all doubt. About B.c 56, we 
hear of a mighty Indian king called Vicramaditya, whoso victory 
over the Sacae forms an era which was adopted by the Indians 
themselves. But these few events neither throw any great light 
upon the internal relations of India, nor serve as a thread for the 
subsequent history. The introduction of Buddhism fortunately 
forms another chronological era, about which there is no doubt; 
but we must defer our account of it until we come to discuss the 
religion of the Indians. Under these circumstances, our historical 
knowledge is, on the whole, limited to the social, political, and 
religious condition of the country, though even here we have no 
guides to show us the modes of development. All we can say, is 
that, in the time of Alexander, Indian civilisation had reached a 
high state of perfection, that this development had commenced 
about a thousand years before him, and that it continued to bear 
good fruit for about a thousand years longer, but that then it began 
to decay. 

6. In the time of Alexander the Great, we find India broken up 
into a number of larger and smaller principalities, which were quite 
independent of one another ; and it appears that, previously to its 
conquest by foreign invaders, it was never united as one empire. 
The system of castes has at all times been the foundation of all the 
political and social institutions of India, and nowhere is it so deeply 
rooted in the minds of the people, and nowhere, perhaps, has it 
been so fully developed; for the Indians not only regard the sepa- 
ration into castes as the grand distinction between themselves and 
the iMlekhas, but trace its origin to the very creation of the human 
race. The institution itself is founded in India, as everywhere else, 
upon conquest. Throughout India the three higher castes are dis- 
tinguished to this day from the lower ones by a lighter complexion 
and handsomer features, and these higher castes are none other than 
the Arya, who, as we have already mentioned, at a remote period 
invaded and conquered India from the north. The four chief castes 
of the Indians are — I. The priests or Brahmins; 2. The warriors 
or Kshatriyas; 3. The tradesmen or Vaisyas ; and 4. The servants 
or Sudras. Mythology describes the Brahmins as proceeding from 
the mouth of the supreme god Brahma, the warriors as having sprung 
from his arms, the tradesmen as having arisen out of his loins, and 
the servants from his feet. 

7. The Brahmins have always been the first and most influential 
caste, and were not only the founders of the intellectual culture and 
peculiarities of the Indians, but always concentrated in their own 
body all the intellectual life of the nation. Whatever was opposed 
to them and their institutions was cast out, or, if successful in main- 
taining itself, contributed to the decay of the national character. 
The law always demanded of the Brahmins to lead a pure and holy 



46 ASIATICNATIONS. 

life, often to pray and fast, to kill no living being, to take no animal 
food except what came from sacrifices, to devote themselves to the 
service of the gods, scrupulously to observe a vast number of cere- 
monies, to study the sacred books, and to expound their contents 
to the members of the second and third castes. In compensation 
for these numerous and wearisome duties, they enjoyed many aud 
great privileges, and the other castes were enjoined to show them 
the profoundest reverence and submission. The person of a Brah- 
min was regarded as sacred and inviolable, and even if he were 
convicted of a great crime, he could not be put to death, and all 
that the king would be entitled to do in such a case would be to 
banish him from his dominions. The lands of the Brahmins were 
exempt from taxes. Their priestly character alone would have 
secured to them a high position in the state ; but as they were at 
the same time regarded as the sole depositaries of all human wisdom, 
they were also the recognised teachers, physicians, and lawyers of 
the nation, and the advisers and ministers of the kings. 

8. The kings were and still are chosen solely from the military 
caste or the Kshatriyas, and although they were regarded as the 
chiefs of the nation, yet they ranked below the Brahmins, who 
would have thought it degrading to themselves to give a daughter 
in marriage to a king, or even to dine with him at the same table. 
The Brahmins being the framers of the law, prescribed to the kings 
their duties, and the manner in which they had to govern their 
dominions, enjoining them to take their highest officers and coun- 
cillors from among the Brahmins. The king is directed to select 
from this caste the wisest man, to entrust to him the most important 
state business, and to employ him in carrying into effect all mea- 
sures of consequence. These regulations show that the fundamental 
principle of the Indian state was of a theocratic nature. Rulers 
of great energy and power would sometimes break through these 
priestly restraints, but they never produced any permanent change, 
and Brahminism has for thousands of years been the foundation of 
all the political institutions of India. The power of the kings, 
however, was nevertheless very great, for they were regarded as the 
sole proprietors of the soil, and the cultivators occupied the land 
only as tenants, who had to pay a certain proportion of the produce 
to the king. But his government interfered very little in local 
matters, so that each town or village formed to some extent an inde- 
pendent community. 

9. The two castes of priests and soldiers were indeed separated 
from the lower ones by a great interval, but the first three are 
nevertheless treated as belonging to one another, and as far superior 
to the fourth. The first three were styled " the regenerate," and 
in consecjuence of this the Sudras, or fourth caste, were forbidden 
to read the sacred books, or to be present when their contents were 



THEINDIANCASTES. 47 

expounded. These four castes themselves, however, were subdivided 
into a great variety of classes, differins:; in dignity, rights, and privi- 
leges, which were transmitted by a father to his children, only by 
means of his marrying a woman of the same caste to which he 
himself belonged ; and as polygamy is established in India as in 
other Asiatic countries, the degrading position of woman is some- 
what diminished by the fact of her sharing in the rights of her 
husband. But mixed marriages were nevertheless of frequent 
occurrence, and as the offspring of such marriages were always 
regarded as deteriorated in some way or another, a number of mixed 
castes were gradually formed, which are said to amount to thirty-six, 
and to each of which a special trade or occupation is assigned. The 
lowest and most despised of all the castes were the Chandalas, who 
are best known in our days under the name of Pariahs. They were 
not allowed to live in towns or villages, or even in their vicinity; 
whatever they had touched was regarded as unclean, and even to 
see them was thought to have a polluting effect. When they were 
seen on the high roads while a Brahmin or merely his suite was 
passing, they were hunted and killed like wild beasts. The conse- 
quence of this was that the Pariahs were a sort of wild and filthy 
race, living by robbery and plunder. They, like some of the other 
despised castes of India, seem in fact to be a distinct race, rather 
than a mere caste, and their condition probably originated in con- 
quest, like that of the Helots in Laconia. The moral effects of this 
system of castes, which in modern times has lost somewhat of its 
ancient rigour, are of a most deplorable kind ; it has been said that 
the very idea of humanity does not exist among the Indians, and 
that they know of no other duties than those of their castes. But 
still no fetters can be so strong as to prevent the true feeling of 
humanity from bursting forth occasionally, and Indian poetry in 
particular often presents to us the noblest feelings of human nature 
in all their beauty and loveliness. Even the separation of castes 
was not always observed in practical life with the strictness enjoined 
by law ; for if, for example, a Brahmin was unable to gain the means 
of living by the discharge of his proper duties, he might serve as a 
soldier, and carry on agriculture or commerce without losing his 
dignity as a Brahmin. Cases of this kind still frequently occur. 

10. Although it is manifest that such institutions as these must 
e:ercise a paralysing influence upon the development of the human 
mind, still it cannot be denied that there must have been a time iu 
Indian history when those institutions tended to raise and elevate, 
if not the whole nation, at least certain classes of it. This is most 
strikingly obvious in the literature, the language, and science of the 
Hindoos. The Sanscrit, their ancient and sacred language, in which 
their greatest works are written, is one of the richest, the most 
euphonious, and the most generally perfect that have ever been 



48 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

spoken by man. The most ancient works written in this language 
are the Vedas and the laws of Manu, in which, at the same time, 
we find the earliest form of the Indian religion. In them we meet 
with the idea of one uncreated supreme being, existing from all 
eternity and of himself, comprehending and pervading the universe 
as its soul. From him, who is himself incomprehensible and invi- 
sible, all visible things have emanated ; hence the universe is nothing 
but the unfolding of the divine being, who is reflected in the whole 
as well as in every individual creature. This original and simple 
notion of one supreme being was changed in the course of time into 
polytheism, of which in fact traces appear even in the Vedas them- 
selves. The stars, the elements, and all the powers of nature were 
conceived as diff'erent divine beings that had emanated from the 
one supreme God. Even in the work of creation a plurality of gods 
was believed to have been engaged. Brahma, himself created by 
the first invisible cause, and assisted by the Pradshapatis (the lords 
of creation), called into being all the various living creatures. Na- 
ture after its creation is conceived to be under the special guardian- 
ship of eight spirits or gods of secondary rank, among whom Varuna 
presides over the sea, Pavana over the winds, Yama over justice, 
Locapalas over the world, Indra over the atmosphere, and Surya 
over the sun. Numberless spirits of an inferior order are subject 
to these, and are difi"used throughout nature, while the divine sub- 
stance pervades all living beings from Brahma down to the lowest 
animals and plants. Within this endless variety of beings the souls 
of men were believed to migrate, entering after the death of man 
either into beings of a higher or a lower order, according to the 
degree in which they had become purified in passing through their 
previous state of existence. This doctrine of the migration of souls, 
which we meet with in other countries also, probably originated in 
India, where it was carried out to its full extent. By way of illus- 
tration we may state that, according to the common belief, the soul 
of a disciple of a Brahmin blaming his master, passed, after his 
death, into the body of an ass; if he calumniated his master, into 
that of a dog ; if he robbed him, into that of a little worm ; and 
if he envied him, into an insect. This belief led the Indians care- 
fully to avoid killing or injuring any living being; while, on the 
other hand, they did not scruple to treat a Pariah with inhuman 
cruelty, because his very condition was regarded as a well-deserved 
jpunishment for his transgressions during a previous existence. It 
must however not be forgotten that this belief acted as a powerful 
stimulus to strive after moral purity and goodness, inasmuch as it 
created the notion that by self-denial, self-control, a knowledge of 
the sacred books, and a conscientious observance of the rules con- 
tained therein, the soul of man might return to God, and become 
worthy of his presence. In all these things, however, the object 



ANCIENT BRAHMINISM. 49 

was to make man conform to certain mechanical rules, rather than 
to make him strive after real purity of heart. 

11. A somewhat diifercnt phasis of the Indian religion appears 
in the national epics, in which the gods are described as having 
descended to earth, and as taking part in the concerns of men. At 
this stage the gods appear as real personifications with definite 
forms ; their images are set up in temples and worshipped, and the 
pure idea of one supreme and invisible god reappears under the 
name of Brahma (of the neuter-gender), who manifests himself in 
three divine capacities, bearing the names Brahma (masculine), the 
creator and lord of the universe ; Vishnu, the preserver, and Siva, 
the destroyer. Vishnu is said to have come into the world in a 
variety of forms to save it from the influence of evil powers, to 
punish vice, and to maintain order and justice. These numerous 
incarnations of the god furnish rich materials for a strange and 
fantastic mythology. Siva is conceived as destroying all finite 
things ; but as death is only a transition to a new form of life, he 
was also worshipped as the god of creative power, whence he is the 
representative of ever decaying and reviving nature. The number 
of subordinate divinities also increases, and they assume more 
definite forms. The earth itself is conceived as inhabited by hosts 
of spirits dwelling in mountains, rivers, brooks, and groves; animals 
and plants even are worshipped as embodiments of divine powers 
and properties. This vast mythology, which subsequently became 
the popular religion of India, may be gathered from the works 
called Puranas, which occupy a middle character between epic and 
didactic poetry. They seem to be a compilation from earlier poems, 
and to have been made at the time when the Indians began to be 
divided into sects, that is, at the time when the gods of the Trimurti 
began to be no longer regarded as subordinate to the one great 
original god, called Para-Brahma, but when one of the three was 
himself worshipped as the supreme god. For the sectarian divisions 
consisted in this, that some portion of the people worshipped one 
of the three gods — the Trimurti — more particularly as the supreme 
being, while the two others enjoyed less honour; and the priests, 
with their votaries of one member of the Trimurti, persecuted the 
worshippers of either of the other two members with obstinacy and 
relentless fury. At first Brahma seems to have had his separate 
worshippers, though no temples or images were erected to him, for 
idolatry was then still unknown. Afterwards there followed the 
separate worship of Vishnu, and last that of Siva and other gods. 
In the end, the worshippers of Vishnu and Siva gained the upper 
hand, and pure Brahminism was suppressed. 

12. In the sixth century before Christ ' a new religion arose in 

' The Cingalese chronology assigns the origin of Buddhism to the year 
B. c. 525, and others to b. c. 543, while the Chinese place it in b. c. 950. 
5 



50 ASIATICNATIONS. 

India in the midst of Braliminism. It was and still is called Budd- 
hism, from Buddha its founder, who came forward as the reformer 
of Brahminism. The changes which he eifected, and the struggles 
to which they gave rise, form a most important epoch in the aifairs 
of India. The history of this remarkable religious reformer is in- 
volved in great obscurity, partly because it was written by his 
disciples in a legendary form, with additions and embellishments, 
and partly because, until recently, it was known only from the works 
of non-Indian followers of Buddha, such as the Tibetans, Chinese, 
and Mongols, while the most authentic or Sanscrit authorities have 
scarcely yet been thoroughly examined. These Sanscrit works are 
considerable in number, and are divided into three classes, the first 
of which consists of discourses and conversations of Buddha* the 
second of rules of discipline ; and the third of metaphysical specu- 
lations. According to the common legends about the origin of 
Buddha, his real name was Sakyamuni or Gautama. He was the 
son of a powerful prince, and the most handsome of all men. Even 
at his birth he was surrounded by spirits, who continued to watch 
over him throughout his life. The fourfold miseries of mankind, 
viz., the pains of child-birth, disease, old age, and death, affected 
and saddened him so much, that he resolved to renounce all the 
pomp and luxury of his high station, and to lead the life of a humble 
hermit. After having spent a period of six years in this way, he 
returned among men, and began to preach to them the necessity of 
despising the pleasures of this world, and of subduing every selfish 
feeling. He himself practised these virtues to such a degree, that 
he became a superior being — Buddha, that is, an immortal. As 
such, he was believed, after his earthly death, to rule over the 
world for a period of five thousand years, at the expiration of which 
he was to be succeeded by another Buddha, as he himself had been 
pi'eceded by four or six other Buddhas. The saints who by their 
merits ranked nearest to Buddha himself, and who might become 
his successors, were called Bodhisattvas. According to this doctrine, 
then, the highest power in the spiritual, as well as the material 
world, belongs to deified men, and most of the Buddhists (for this 
religion is likewise divided into several sects) do not recognise one 
eternal divine creator and ruler of the world, but believe that all 
things have come, and are still coming into existence, by some in- 
scrutable law of necessity, and by an unceasing process of change. 
Only one of these sects worships one supreme god, under the name 
of Adi-Buddha. But the non-existence of such a being had been 
asserted even before the time of Sakyamuni by certain Indian 
philosophers, from whom he appears to have boiTowed the idea. 
He did not indeed impugn the existence of Brahma and the 
numerous other divinities, but he taught that the power of Buddha 
was greater than theirs. In other respects he retained the doctrines 



DEVELOPMENT OF BUDDHISM. 51 

of Brahminisra, as, for instance, that about the migration of souls. 
Rewards and punishments, according to him, were not eternal ; but 
he taught that the man raised by his virtues to the rank of a god, 
as well as the condemned, was subject to an immutable law of 
change, and that both must return to this earth to pass through 
fresh trials and a fresh succession of changes. The highest happi- 
ness, in his opinion, was to escape from this eternal change of 
coming into being and dying; whence he held out to the faithful 
and the good the hope that in the end they would become a Nirwana, 
that is, that they would enter a state of almost entire annihilation. 
This state of supreme happiness is conceived diiferently by the 
diiferent sects of Buddhists, but in the main idea all agree. 

13. The objects which Sakyamuni himself had in view were far 
removed from those metaphysical speculations on which, at a later 
time, his followers became divided into sects. His own doctrines, 
though intimately connected with his philosophical views, were 
essentially practical, for he maintained that there were six cardinal 
virtues, by means of which man might attain the condition of 
Nirwana, viz., almsgiving, pure morality, knowledge, energy in 
action, patience, and goodwill towards his fellow-men. The funda- 
mental principle of Buddhism, therefore, is essentially of an ethicul 
nature, and the advantages which such a system, notwithstanding 
its atheistical character, seemed to aiford, were so great, that it 
could not but attract great attention at a time when Brahminism, 
though still intellectually at its height, had sunk very low in a moral 
point of view. Religion, in the hands of the Brahmins, had become 
a mere mechanical observance of ill-understood ceremonies, for which 
Sakyamuni wished to substitute a truly pious life ; at the same time 
he endeavoured to put an end to the haughty and domineering spirit 
of the priests. He accordingly denied the unconditional authority 
of the Vedas, and it was formerly believed that he had even con- 
demned the whole system of castes ; but although this latter belief 
is erroneous, still it is evident that, a pious and virtuous life being 
made the sole condition of eternal happiness, virtually the division 
into castes was not recognised, though they continued to exist as 
corporations of different occupations and trades, or as political bodies. 
The Brahmins alone, as a privileged class, were not only not recog- 
nised, but vehemently opposed. This open rupture between tho 
old and new religion, however, was not produced at once, for Sakya- 
muni himself did not aim at destroying what he found, but only 
wanted to bring about a peaceful reform within the established 
religion, and to inculcate the necessity of a really pious life. His 
own personal influence, his discourses, and his austerity produced a 
great effect, and disciples gathered around him from all classes, 
even from the Brahminical caste. Afterwards, however, the Brah- 
mins began to persecute the ascetic Buddhists, at first from envy 



52 ASIATICNATIONS. 

and jealousy, and afterwards from a fear lest the new sect should 
ultimately overthrow all the relie;ious and political institutions of 
the country. But the greater the opposition, the greater was the 
success of the new religion ; the lower castes in particular, feeling 
themselves elevated hy the new doctrines, seized with eagerness the 
opportunity of getting rid of fetters which had hitherto constrained 
them ; and the teaching, addressed as it was to all the people with- 
out distinction, produced astonishing effects. The Sudras felt called 
upon to embrace the new doctrines, and to become members of the 
community of saints; and even many of the Kshatriyas, impatient 
of the priestly arrogance of the Brahmins, adopted them. In the 
end, kings also joined the reformers, and gave a character to the 
new religion. About the middle of the third century before Christ, 
we meet with a king A§oka, a grandson of Chandragupta, who ruled 
over nearly the whole of India, and was devotedly attached to the 
doctrines of Buddhism, without, however, persecuting the still 
numerous adherents of Brahminism. He not only erected numer- 
ous Buddha temples, but strove himself to live entirely in accord- 
ance with the ethical precepts of the new religion, practising the 
virtues of general benevolence and kindness to all men. He 
abolished capital punishment throughout his extensive empire, 
erected everywhere hospitals for the sick, and made roads shaded 
by trees and provided with wells at certain intervals. He not only 
established and extended Buddhism in his own dominions, but even 
sent missionaries into foreign countries. The progress of the new 
religion was thus immense, but very little is known about the 
struggles it had to maintain in India with its great and powerful 
rival. All we know is, that the Brahmins continued to exert them- 
selves in maintaining their own religion, and that, after a few cen- 
turies, a mighty reaction took place, in which the exasperated 
Brahmins succeeded in rousing their followers to a desperate and 
bloody contest with their opponents. These struggles, which appear 
to have lasted from the third to the seventh century of our era, 
terminated in the defeat of Buddhism, which was almost entirely 
exterminated in the western peninsula. After the expulsion of the 
Buddhists, however, a sect of them called Yainas still maintained 
itself, rejecting the authority of the Vedas, and worshipping deified 
men. But Buddhism had long before spread bejond the borders 
of western India, and had been adopted by numerous other Asiatic 
nations. In the third century before Christ, it was introduced into 
Ceylon, whence it spread over nearly all the Indian islands, and 
over a great part of further India, Tibet, and China, in the last of 
which countries it took root as early as the first century after Christ, 
under the name of the religion of Fo or Foe, which is the Chinese 
name for Buddha. It was especially the lower classes among the 
Chinese that eagerly took up the new religion, and to this day 



EXTENSION OF BUDDHISM. 5S 

Buddhism is the religion of the majority of the Chinese people. 
Altogether, this religion is the most widely-spread in the world, 
extending from the Indus to Japan, and counting about two hun- 
dred millions of adherents. 

14. The astonishing success of so singular a religious system is 
certainly one of the most remarkable phenomena in the history of 
Asiatic civilisation. It has undergone various changes in the coun- 
tries into which it was introduced, but its most essential points 
everywhere are traceable to its Indian origin. Buddhism had at 
first combated the existence of a privileged class of priests, but in 
its turn it was obliged itself, for the purpose of self-preservation, to 
institute an order of priesthood. The elements of it lay in the 
nature of Buddhism itself, which regarded an ascetic life as the 
holiest that a man could lead. Sakyamuni himself had raised those 
of his followers who chose an ascetic life, by a kind of consecration, 
to the rank of Sramanas, which we may interpret by the term 
" mendicant friars," for they were obliged to vow to spend their 
lives in celibacy, and to support themselves solely by alms. These 
Sramanas formed the retinue of Sakyamuni as long as he was alive, 
and even those who lived in the wilds and solitudes sometimes 
gathered around him to listen to his discourses. These monks, in 
the course of time, began to congregate in separate buildings, and 
thus formed convents, which, by the liberality of their adherents, 
acquired great wealth, and were placed under strict regulations 
regarding dress, food, the mode of admission, and the like. These 
priests differed essentially from the Brahmins by their ascetic mode 
of life in convents, and by their celibacy. The worship of this new 
religion was at first very simple. Bloody sacrifices were unknown, 
because it was unlawful to kill any living being, and because the 
religion recognised no god to whom sacrifices might be offei'ed. 
Buddha alone was worshipped, and that in two ways, divine honours 
being paid to his images and to the remains of his body, the latter 
of which were preserved in eight metal boxes, deposited in as many 
sacred buildings or temples. Buildings containing remains of 
Buddha himself or of distinguished persons who had supported his 
doctrines, were afterwards greatly multiplied. The Brahmins, in a 
similar manner, raised vast monuments over the remains of illus- 
trious men, but never paid them any divine honours. Such 
Buddhist mausoleums are found in great numbers in those countries 
where this religion is or once was established, especially in Ceylon, 
where they are called Dagops. In Afghanistan, on the north-west 
of the Indus, many such monuments of great interest have been 
discovered in modern times, and are popularly known under the 
name of Topes. They are all built in the form of cupolas with a 
few small chambers in the interior. Many of them have been 
5* 



54 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

opened, and a great number of objects of value, offered by pilgi-ims, 
have been found in them. 

15. Buddhism, though originating in an opposition to the abuses I 
of Tirahminism, degenerated in the course of time into something j 
which is probably far worse than Brahminism. Its dogmas have 
become wild and fantastic, its form of worship is an empty system j 
of pomps and ceremonies, and its ascetic priests are described as 
forming a most domineering hierarchy, so that in all Buddhist 
countries there exists a most marked distinction between the priests 
and the laity. The priests still live in convents, which are at the i 
same time the schools for the young, and the greatest veneration is I 
paid to them by the people ; but they are at the same time bound 
to strict obedience towards their ecclesiastical superiors. Nowhere 
is the Buddhist hierarchy so fully and so perfectly organised as in 
Tibet, where nearly half the population consists of priests, who, 
together with all the rest of the people, recognise a sort of Pope, 
styled Dalai Lama, as their head. He is regarded as the living 
embodiment of a Bodhisattva, whose soul, at the death of the indi- 
vidual in whom it has existed, always migrates into the body of his 
successor. Many of the institutions and ceremonies of Buddhism 
have so striking a resemblance with those of the Roman Catholic 
religion, that it was at one time believed that Christianity had exer- 
cised great influence upon Buddhism ; but subsequent investigations 
have shown that the eastern institutions are more ancient than 
Christianity, and that in all probability Buddhism and Roman 
Catholicism have arrived at the same results independently of each 
other. Under such circumstances, the expulsion of Buddhism 
from India has not been a misfortune, for its purer ethics gave way 
at an early period to a pompous and wearisome ceremonial, and its 
influence upon intellectual and literary culture was anything but 
beneficial. In India, all intellectual pursuits have ever been con- 
nected with Brahminism, as is clear from the development of its 
literature. The Buddhists had indeed a literature, but it was sub- 
servient only to the transmission of its doctrines, whereas the 
national or Brahminical literature embraces all the relations and 
manifestations of human life, and is deserving of the most careful 
study. 

16. The Vedas, as was remarked above, are the most ancient 
monuments of the Sanscrit or Brahminical literature, and were, 
according to tradition, communicated to men by Brahma himself. 
They were then handed down by oral tradition, until a wise man 
of the name of Vyasa (the collector) put them together in their 
present order, and divided them into four great parts, each of which 
is subdivided into two sections, of which the first contains prayers, 
Lymns, and invocations, and the second rules about religious duties 
and theologico-philosophical doctrines. Some few of the pieces 



SANSCRIT LITERATTTRE. 55 

constituting the Vedas are evidently later interpolations, but the 
genuine parts cannot belonp; to a more recent date than the tenth 
century before Christ In Sakyaniuni's time, they were revered as 
ancient works, and there can be little doubt that the most ancient 
parts were composed as early as the year B. C. 1409. The book 
next in importance consists of the laws of Manu, which was like- 
wise believed to be divinely inspired j for Brahma was said to have 
communicated them to his grandson, Manu, the first mortal. The 
laws contained in this book are intended as a basis for all the poli- 
tical, religious, and social relations of life. It begins with the 
creation of the world, and treats of education, marriage, domestic 
and religious duties, of government, the civil and penal law, of 
castes, repentance, the migration of souls, and the blessings of the 
future life. The age of this work is in all probability much more 
recent than that of the Vedas, notwithstanding the tradition, and 
much also is traceable to subsequent compilers ; but although des- 
potism and priestly rule, as well as a great number of petty and 
childish ceremonies, form the main substance of the work, yet the 
whole is pervaded by a spirit of profound piety and benevolence 
towards man and all living creatures. The great epic poems, the 
Ramayana and Mahabharata, are likewise believed to be of divine 
origin ; they celebrate the heroes who lived and acted at the time 
when the gods used to come down upon earth and take a part in 
the affairs of men. The Ramayana describes the deeds and exploits 
of Rama, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, and its historical sub- 
stratum is, perhaps, the first attempt of the Arya to extend their 
dominion in the south. The main subject of the Mahabharata is 
the struggle between Pandava and Kaurava, two royal and heroic 
families ; gods, heroes, and giants here appear in arms against one 
another; all the members of the two princely houses perish in a 
frightful manner, with the exception of one of the Pandava, who 
is miraculously recalled to life. This poem holds a middle place 
between real mythology and historical tradition. Both these poems 
are of more recent date than the Vedas, but it is generally supposed 
that they are more ancient than the institution of Buddhism. 
Their authors were Brahmins, and although they were composed 
chiefly for the edification of the warrior-caste, yet the lower caste 
of the Sudras were not only not excluded from reading them, but 
were even encouraged to study them as a means of ennobling and 
improving themselves. The cultivation of dramatic poetry belongs 
to a much later period, and the most celebrated dramatic poet was 
Kalidasa, who is said to have lived at the court of King Vikrama- 
ditya, a great patron of men of talent and genius, who appears to 
have reigned about the time of the birth of Christ. Kalidasa'a 
drama, entitled Sakontala, was the first that was made known in 
Europe towards the end of last century, when its novelty, beauty, 



56 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

and singular character created general admiration. What is most 
striking in this and other poetical productions of India, is the deli- 
cacy of feeling and the relations of man to nature, which are of the 
tendcrest and most loving kind ; but they nevertheless cannot be 
measured by the European standard, for the Indians have little taste 
for the reality of things and for simple beauty, whence their heroes 
and heroines have no definite forms, but are evanescent and sur- 
rounded by a fantastic mistiness. And this is probably the reason 
why the Indians are little fitted for historical composition. 

17. There can scarcely be a doubt that speculative philosophy 
was cultivated by the Indians before all other nations, and with 
them, as with some others, it first appears in the garb of poetry. 
The epic Mahabharata contains a very remarkable episode called 
Bhagavad Gita, in which the hero Ardshuna and the god Krishna 
enter into a speculative conversation which may be said to contain 
the elements of a complete system of philosophy. But in India we 
meet with the same phenomenon as in other countries, in which 
speculative philosophy has been pursued with vigour; diflferent 
systems of philosophy, starting from different premises, were deve- 
loped, and combated one another. Some of them were regarded as 
orthodox, because their doctrines agreed with those of the Vedas ; 
others were treated as heretical, because they were irreconcilable 
with the teaching of the Vedas, or had an atheistic tendency. It 
was one of these latter systems that was adopted by Sakyamuni, 
when he rejected the authority of the Vedas, and promulgated his 
atheistic views. In practical philosophy the Indians did not make 
the same progress as in their metaphysical speculations ; but still 
they did not entirely neglect it. The invention of the decimal 
system in numbers, so important in mathematics and in the jaflfairs 
of ordinary life, which has been generally ascribed to the Arabs, is 
now well known to have been made by the Indians ; the Arabs only 
imported it into Europe, and thereby have acquired the reputation 
of being its inventors. 

18. The arts, as well as the poetry and philosophy of the Indians, 
were intimately connected with their religion, and were cultivated 
chiefly in its service. Architecture, in particular, has produced the 
greatest and most astonishing works in the form of temples, in 
which the art of building is seen to proceed from nature, for those 
temples are grottoes in rocks widened and extended by the hand 
of man into mighty temples. In some instances the interior only 
is carefully worked out, but in others the outer parts are finished 
with equal care, though all is wrought in the living rock. India 
is very rich in gigantic structures of this kind ; European travellers 
first saw and admired those in the islands of Salsetta and Elephanta, 
near Bombay; and others were subsequently discovered in the in- 
terior of the western peninsula, near the village of Elora. Grottoes, 



ARTSOFTHEINDIANS 57 

temples, and human habitations, are there cut in a chain of rocks 
forming a crescent of about four miles in length ; and they present 
such an abundance of sculptures and ornamental carvings of a most 
difficult kind, that they cannot have been made otherwise than by 
many thousand hands employed for an immense number of years. 
These vrorks of Elora far surpass all others of the same class, both 
in design and execution. Some of these temples are Brahminical, 
and others are evidently destined for Buddhist worship ; but all 
must have been constructed at a very remote period of Indian his- 
tory, and all of them were no doubt originally Brahminical temples. 
The forms of these architectural works are heavy, overloaded with 
ornaments, and vague, and they present the greatest variety of 
straight lines and curves; their chief defect is in regard to simpli- 
city and artistic freedom. The Dagops and Stupas of the Buddhists 
form the transition to the later temples, which were built of blocks 
of stone and bricks. Eui'opeans generally call these pagodas, (a 
corruption of Bhagavati, i. e., a sacred house.) Several of them 
excite by their vastness no less astonishment than the rock temples 
of Elora. These pagodas are generally built in the form of pyra- 
mids, consisting of several parts with vertical sides, the whole being 
surmounted by a cupola. ^ They are covered with such a profusion 
of ornaments that the sight is perfectly bewildering. 

19. Sculptures, especially high reliefs in stone, occur in great 
abundance both in the grotto temples and in the pagodas. Most 
of the figures are remarkable for great softness, which displays 
itself particularly in the swelling roundness of the forms, in which 
bones and muscles are quite concealed. Many of the figures are 
not only of colossal size, but form most grotesque combinations of 
human bodies with heads of animals, and often with more than two 
arms to indicate superhuman strength, while others with several 
heads are intended to represent superhuman wisdom. These and 
many other peculiarities show that art in India had not yet come to 
see that high bodily and mental powers must be expressed by fea- 
tures, forms, proportions, and symmetry, and by a faithful adherence 
to nature. Indian art thus shows the same peculiarities as Indian 
poetry; both delight in the expression of softness, combined with 
what is fantastic and grotesque. The civilisation of India, if viewed 
by itself and in its seclusion from the rest of the world, is far 
greater and more important, than if regarded in its connection with 
that of other nations. India is indeed closely connected with other 
parts of the world by its language and the literature which mirrors 
forth the intellectual life of the better part of the nation ; but that 
connection is lost in a period of such remote antiquity, that history, 
as such, knows nothing of it. Some ideas and inventions no doubt 
did originate in India, which were afterwards imported into Europe; 
but their historical recollection has faded away so much, that the 



58 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

threads can be discovered only by laborious and learned inquiries- 
It cannot therefore be asserted that India has at any time exercised 
any considerable influence upon the civilisation of the western 
world. As to itself, it shares the fate of all eastern countries : it 
has reached a certain point beyond which it has been unable to ad- 
vance, and has lost the power of regenerating itself, of renewing its 
intellectual life, and of opening new paths for itself, by which it 
might recover and maintain a manly independence. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

IRAN (bACTRIA, media, AND PERSIA. 

1. We here use the name Iran in its modern acceptation, com- 
prising the Bactrians, Medes, and Persians proper, for these three 
nations constitute one great branch of the Indo-Germanic race, and 
are now generally called Iranians, and their country Iran.' The 
people themselves being nearest akin to the Arya of India, called 
themselves by the same honourable name.^ G-reeks and Romans 
apply the names Bactrians, Medes, or Persians, to the whole race, 
according as any of the three branches acquired the supremacy over 
the others, and thereby threw them into the background. Iran, or 
the country of the Iranians, is the western highland of Asia, which 
is much smaller than the eastern highlands ; the two are connected 
by a range of mountains which the historians of Alexander call the 
Indian Caucasus, and which now bears the name of the Hindoo 
Kush. The interior of Iran consists of an extensive table-land, the 
greater part of which has all the characteristics of a desert, espe- 
cially wanting water and trees, and being of a cold temperature. 
This table-land, like that on the east of it, is surrounded by moun- 
tains which give to the whole country the character of an immense 
fortress, there being only a few passes by which an entrance can be 
effected, and these passes run along the most dangerous precipices, 
or are so narrow that they can be closed by means of gates. Nearly 
all the more important towns of Iran are built in the vicinity of 
these passes. The declivities of the mountains on the frontiers 
form transition countries, some of which are remarkable for their 
high temperature and their luxurious vegetation ; but even these 

« This name occurs in ancient times only on some coins of the Sassanidae. 

* The name is also spelt Airya, whence Iran. Arii, and Ariana, are the 
names by which the ancients actually designated the greater part of ancient 
Persia. 



IRAN. 69 

have few rivers, and require artificial irrigation to assist agricultural 
operations. 

2. In the history of China and India, no inconsiderable assistance 
is to be derived from observing the actual state of the countries and 
of their inhabitants, who have been stationary for many centuries. 
Such is not the case in Iran, for here great changes and revolutions 
have thoroughly shaken and altered the ancient condition of both 
the country and its inhabitants. But, on the other hand, the 
sources from which information may be obtained regarding its 
ancient history are more accessible and more generally known ; the 
classical nations of antiquity having frequently come into contact 
with the Persians, their writers are far better acquainted with them, 
and throw much more light upon their history than upon that of 
India. Besides this information furnished by foreigners, we have 
the native literature of the Persians, written in the sacred Zend 
language, which was probably one spoken in the eastern parts of 
Iran, while the ancient Persic, properly so called, was spoken in 
the western parts, though both are only dialects of the same branch 
of the Indo-Germanic stock. The sacred writings in the Zend 
language, called Zend-Avesta, were unknown in Europe, until, 
about the middle of last century, a Fi'enchman of the name of 
Anquetil du Perron brought them to France, and published a trans- 
lation of them. These books excited great interest at the time, 
because they revealed one of the most remarkable of religious sys- 
tems, which until then had been very imperfectly known. The 
authenticity of the works, which was at first questioned, has since 
been established beyond all doubt by oriental scholars. Neither 
the value, however, nor the antiquity of all the books formiag the 
Zend-Avesta is the same ; the most ancient ones must have been 
composed before the conquest of x\lexander the Great, which opened 
Iran to the influence of Greek civilisation; for the legends and reli- 
gious views they contain appear, if not in their original freshness 
and purity, yet at least free from foreign admixture. 

3. The Zend-Avesta contains a very remarkable tradition about 
the immigration of the Arya into Iran. Once, it is said, the winter 
in Airyanem-Vaego, the original abode of the people, lasted for ten 
months, and its severity induced their king Djcmshid to emigrate 
with his people into warmer and more southern countries, which 
had been blessed by Ormuzd. Djemshid had a golden dagger, a 
present from Ormuzd, with which he cleft the earth wherever he 
went ; blessings thus spread everywhere, and the countries became 
filled with tame and wild beasts, with birds, and men, and red 
shining fires, which had never before been seen there. This tradi- 
tion evidently describes the immigration of the Arya from their 
original homes, in the extreme north-east of Iran, about the sources 
of the Oxus and Jaxartes; the migration from the north-east to the 



60 ASIATICNATIONS. 

south-west was followed by the spread of agriculture, and all the 
advantages that flow from it as its natural consequences. 

4. It is one of the fundamental doctrines with all the Iranians, 
that originally all things, both moral and physical, were divided 
into good and evil. Each of these two divisions was presided over 
by a divine being, the good by Ormuzd, and the evil by Ahriman. 
Neither of these beings was regarded as eternal, but as produced by 
Zervane Akerene, that is, uncreated Time, who, after the creation 
of Ormuzd and Ahriman, entirely disappears, leaving the creation 
and government of the world, and of all that is contained in it, to 
those two mighty and divine beings. Ormuzd was from the begin- 
ning in a region of light, the symbol of all that is good, while Ahri- 
man dwelt in darkness, the symbol of evil, and the two were per- 
petually at war with each other. Ormuzd began and completed the 
creation, which was a creation of light; and Ahriman, though con- 
ceived as the destroyer, was nevertheless regarded as a creator ; but 
his creation was the empire of death, and darkness, and evil, which 
he constituted in such a manner as to oppose to every creature of 
Ormuzd one created by himself, with similar qualities, but perverted 
into evil ; thus he created the wolf as the counterpart to the useful 
dog ; and in general all beasts of prey, which shun the light, or 
crawl on the earth • and all troublesome and destructive insects 
were regarded as creatures of Ahriman. In this manner the whole 
of the physical world was divided between light and darkness, and 
all the moral world between good and evil ; and the two worlds 
were conceived as engaged in a perpetual struggle with each other — 
the evil trying to destroy the good, while the good, in its turn, is 
bent upon overpowering the evil. It was believed, however, that 
in the end the principle of good would gain the victory ; and, 
according to some, even Ahriman and his followers were then to be 
purified and admitted among the blessed. In both these empires, 
there existed intermediate beings between the supreme rulers and 
the race of mortals ; they consisted of spirits of diiferent grades and 
ranks. The throne of Ormuzd was surrounded by six arch-spirits, 
called Amshaspands. Next to them in rank were the Izeds, who 
stood to the Amshaspands in the same relation as the latter did to 
Ormuzd. The hosts of other inferior spirits, called Fervers, were 
innumerable, and pervaded all nature, for every living creature had 
its Ferver dwelling in it, imparting to it life and motion, and con- 
ferring physical and spiritual blessings on those who addressed it in 
pious and humble prayer. The spirits in the empire of Ahriman 
were called Devs, six of whom answered to the Amshaspands, and 
they Avcre the authors of every misfortune, and of all sins. This 
religious system, notwithstanding its singular dualism, is yet far 
more spiritual than any of the other polytheistic x'eligions of Asia. 
It seems to have originated in the worship of the heavenly bodies 



IRAN. 61 

which shed their light upon the earth, for this worship prevailed in a 
very large part of Asia, where the cloudless sky, with its transparent 
blue, clothes all nature with a peculiar brilliancy. Light there 
naturally appeared as the vivifying principle, diffusing joy and 
happiness over all creation, while darkness seemed to remove and 
destroy all that owed its origin and life to light. Hence fire also • 
was worshipped, as the element containing and diffusing light, and 
in special places a perpetual fire was kept up, with certain purifica- 
tions and ceremonies. This material worship of light and fire was 
raised in the religion of Ormuzd to a spiritual character, for in it 
light is no longer a merely physical, but a moral good, and the 
symbol of higher spiritual powers. For a long time, worship was 
paid simply to the light and fire as they appeared in nature ; the 
imagination of the Iranians neither conceived the objects of their 
worship in definite forms, nor invented any mythological stories 
about them. Sacrifices were offered in the open air and on hills, 
and Herodotus expressly states that the Persians in his time had 
neither statues, nor temples, nor altars. But religion did not 
remain in this condition ; for, as we shall see hereafter, idolatry 
was introduced as early as the time of the Persian empire. At a 
still later period, idolatry again disappeared, and its place was sup- 
plied by the material worship of fire, and at this stage the religion 
of Ormuzd has continued to the present day ; for the few surviving 
remnants of the ancient Iranians, called Parsi, still cling to the 
worship of their ancestors, notwithstanding the furious persecutions 
of the Mahommedans. They are found in some of the eastern parts 
of Iran, especially in Surate in western India, where Anquetil du 
Perron found copies of their ancient sacred books, which were pre- 
served by the priests with great care, and even with danger to 
themselves. But the preservation of these books had not been able 
to preserve the spiritual element of religion, wHich has become a 
coarse, mechanical, and superstitious fire worship, det&sted and ab- 
horred by the Mahommedan population. 

5. According to the ancient and genuine doctrine of the Zend- 
Avesta, man became mortal through the sin of his first parents, and 
for the same reason he was placed in the middle between the world 
of Ormuzd and that of Ahi'iman. Being free in his choice, but 
weak, he would sink under the dominion of Ahriman and his 
agents, who watch him night and day, and endeavour to draw him 
into the region of darkness, were it not that Ormuzd had revealed 
to him the law of light. Under the guidance of this law man is 
able to escape from the pursuit of Ahriman and his Devs, and to 
arrive at a state of bliss, which was the object of Ormuzd in reveal- 
ing his law. The sum and substance of this law is, that man must 
be pure in his thoughts, words, and actions ; and the pure man must 
shun the contact of everything proceeding from Ahriman, the source 
6 



62 ASIATICNATIONS. 

of all that is impure. If he has been unable to avoid coming into 
contact with the impure, he is obliged to undergo a process of puri- 
fication, consisting of a variety of ceremonies. The worship of the 
sacred fire, sacrifices, prayers, and the reading of the sacred books, 
constitute the chief religious observances. Contact with dead bodies • 
of animals or men was regarded as particularly polluting, whence '. 
the people were neither allowed to bury nor to burn their dead ; by 
the former the earth would have become polluted, and by the latter 
the fire. Accordingly, there remained nothing but to expose the 
dead bodies in a place where they did not come into contact with 
the earth, until the birds of prey or wild beasts had consumed the 
flesh, after which the bones were collected and preserved. In all 
this, moral and physical purity are blended and confounded. But 
one part of the law tells men what to do to induce the earth to yield 
them her blessings : they are enjoined to build towns, where priests, 
herds and flocks, women and children might congregate in purity ; 
to cultivate waste lands and improve them by irrigation, and, lastly, 
to take care of the cattle and all domestic animals. This part of 
the law is evidently intended to promote and preserve civilisation, 
and, while Ormuzd thus presides over civilisation, Ahriman rejoices 
in wildness and savageness, and everything that is opposed to a 
well-organized social system. Hence the Iranians,-considering their 
own country to be under the special protection of Ormuzd, believed 
that the country in the north-east, beyond the river Oxus, was under 
the direct influence of Ahriman, because it was inhabited by rude 
nomadic tribes which were hostile to them ; and they distinguished 
that country from their own by giving it the name Turan. Their 
aversion to the Turanians, however, arose not from the mere fact 
of their being nomades, but because they were hostile to them and 
all their social and religious institutions, for some of the Iranian 
tribes themselves led a nomadic life. 

6. The religion of Ormuzd, by impressing upon its adherents the 
necessity of subduing nature, and of combating with all their might 
the influence of the empire of Ahriman, could not fail to rouse them 
to a life of vigorous activity, and it must have exercised a very con- 
siderable influence upon the social and political condition of the 
people ; but we possess, unfortunately, only very little historical 
information about the earliest times. The Zend-Avesta mentions a 
division of the people into four classes or castes, viz., priests or 
magi, warriors, agriculturists, and tradesmen. The king and the 
judges belonged to the first or priestly caste, the warriors seem to 
have formed a sort of nobility, and the whole classification must 
have been based on differences of descent, but it was never so 
strictly enforced and observed as in India, nor does it seem ever to 
have embraced the whole nation, as the nomadic tribes, which can- 
not have been classed with the agriculturists, are not included in 
the list of castes. 



EACTRIA. 63 

7. The most ancient, and at the same time the only native records 
of the history of Iran, are contained in the Zend-Avesta ; but they 
are so entirely mythical that it would be useless to attempt to deduce 
any history from them. In the middle ages, the Persian poet Fir- 
dusi incorporated in a great epic the extant traditions about the 
ancient exploits of his countrymen ; but these traditions are so 
thoroughly legendary, and so much embellished in the oriental 
fashion, that they cannot be regarded as a real basis for history. It 
is only by applying more than ordinary violence that some of them 
can be made to harmonise with the accounts transmitted to us by 
the Greeks. We are therefore obliged to take these last as our 
guides in drawing up our sketch of the history of Persia. But even 
they do not go very far back, leaving us entirely in ignorance in 
regard to the most ancient periods. Hence the age of Zerdusht, 
commonly called Zoroaster, the famous religious lawgiver of the 
Persians, is buried in utter obscurity. Some Greek authors state 
that he flourished about five thousand years before the Trojan war, 
according to which he would be a purely mythical being. Firdusi 
relates that he lived in the reign of King Gushtasv, who adopted 
his doctrines, ordered his subjects to establish the worship of fire, 
and diffused the Zend-Avesta throughout his dominions. Some 
critics, identifying this Gushtasv with Darius the son of Hystaspes, 
believe that Zoroaster must have lived in the sixth century before 
the Christian era. But there appears to be no good reason for 
regarding the Gushtasv of Firdusi, and Darius the son of Hystaspes, 
as the same person ; and moreover, if such a man had lived at that 
time, the Greeks could hardly have left him unnoticed. The proba- 
bility is, that Zoroaster flourished somewhere about the year 1000 
B. c. Shortly after the time of Darius, the Persians began to lose 
their original character, which it must have .taken centuries to 
develope under the law of Ormuzd. The Zend-Avesta does not 
describe Zoroaster as the original author of fire worship, but only as 
a prophet who developed and completed the whole system. Hence 
be cannot be regarded either as a purely mythical personage, nor 
be assigned to so late a date as that of Darius. 

8. The most ancient Iranian empire, about which Greek writers 
furnish any information, is Bactria or Bactriana, with its capital of 
Bactra or Zariaspa. It formed the north-eastern part of Iran, bor- 
dering upon Turan. Most of the accounts we have of Bactria refer 
to its invasions and conquests by foreign enemies. Thus we are 
told that Ninus (about B.C. 1230) marched with a vast army into 
the country and besieged Bactra, which, however, he was unable to 
take, until Semiramis came to his assistance. Afterwards the Bac- 
trians are said to have submitted to Cyrus, king of Persia, (about 
B. C. 540,) who appointed one of his sons satrap of Bactria and some 
adjacent countries. Thenceforth the country continued to form 



64 ASIATICNATIONS. 

part of the Persian empire, to which it was tributary, but repeated 
attempts were made to shake off the yoke. Alexander the Great 
(b. c. 329) conquered Bactria, like the other parts of the kingdom 
of Persia, and appointed satraps as its governors; but about the 
year B. C. 256, the governor Antiochus Theus threw off the yoke 
of Alexander's successors, and proclaimed himself independent king 
of Bactria. lie was succeeded by several kings whose names are 
known only from coins, found in modern times at Balkh and Bok- 
hara, and bearing Greek legends. The reign of Eucratidas, who 
ascended the throne about B.C. 181, appears to have been long and 
prosperous, for he is said to have ruled over a thousand cities, and 
to have annexed even a part of India to his dominions. Several of 
his successors, again, are known only from their coins, which con- 
tinue to bear Greek legends, until in the end the dominion of the 
Greek rulers was overthrown by Scythian tribes, which, about B. C. 
100, extended their sway as far as the mouths of the river Indus. 
The coins of the new rulers, who were evidently barbarians, con- 
tinue to bear Greek inscriptions, but they gradually become so cor- 
rupt, that it is clear they were made by people who were not familiar 
with the Greek language. These Scythian rulers were succeeded 
by a race commonly called Indo-Scythians, whose chief seat appears 
to have been on the river Kabul, for their coins are discovered iu 
great numbers between Kabul and Jelalabad. The time when these 
Indo-Scythians succeeded in gaining the ascendency is unknown; 
the legends of their coins are still in Greek characters, but we fre- 
quently meet with Indian words. When the Sassanidae (a. D. 226) 
restored the Persian empire, Bactria again became a province of it, 
and in this condition it remained, until, in the eighth century after 
Christ, the country was conquered by Mahommedan invaders. A 
kind of Greek civilisation, the result of Alexander's conquests, had 
thus maintained itself for several centuries in the distant East, until 
in the end it was extinguished by barbarians ; and were it not for 
the numerous coins with Greek inscriptions found in those parts, 
we should hardly know anything of the existence of a Greek empire 
in the north-east of Iran. 

9. The history of Media has been transmitted to us in a more 
complete and satisfactory form. This country, situated in the west 
of Iran, was regarded by the ancients as one of the most important 
parts of Asia, on account of its extent, its favourable situation, the 
number of its warlike inhabitants, its excellent breed of horses, 
and its great fertility, especially in the warm plains. At present 
these advantages no longer exist, for both the population and civili- 
sation have sunk very low, and the artificial irrigation which the 
country requires has been almost entirely neglected. The history 
of Media previous to the thirteenth century b. c. is unknown to 
us ; but about that time it was subdued by the Assyrians, whose 



PERSIA. 65 

yote the Medes bore for a period of about five hundred years. But 
they then took courage, and freeing themselves from foreign domi- 
nion, restored their country to independence. Under what form 
of government they lived after their liberation, we have no means 
of ascertaining, but we are told that the increasing state of lawless- 
ness and anarchy filled the people with fear lest they should be 
compelled to quit their native country, and that, in consequence, 
they resolved to appoint a king. They accordingly elected from 
among themselves Deioces, a man who had already acquired great 
reputation as a judge in his own district, and was ambitious of 
gaining the sovereign power among his countrymen. He reigned 
from B. C. 709 till 656, and from the first surrounded himself with 
a strong body-guard, and built the capital of Ecbatana, which he 
fortified with a sevenfold wall. The innermost of these walls enclosed 
the royal palace and the treasury. At present there are but few 
remains of Ecbatana, in the neighbourhood of Hamadan. The 
monarchy which he established was hereditary, and a kind of mili- 
tary despotism. His successor Phraortes, from B. c. 656 to 634, 
commenced a great war against the Assyrian empire, but lost his 
life in a decisive battle. In the reign of his son Cyaxares, from 
B. c. 634 to 594, the kingdom was invaded by Scythian hordes 
from the countries about mount Caucasus, and was kept in subjec- 
tion by them for a period of twenty-eight years, at the end of which, 
Cyaxares and his Medes not only expelled the foreign invaders, but 
resumed the war against the Assyrians, to avenge the defeat of his 
father. For this purpose, he allied himself with Nabopolassar, king 
of Babylon, and succeeded in taking and destroying the Assyrian 
capital of Nineveh, and subduing the empire. When he died, after 
a reign of forty years, he was succeeded by his son Astyages. The 
Median empire which was thus restored by Cyaxares, embraced, 
besides Media, also Assyria, and was further extended by the subju- 
gation of Persia proper and Bactria. It was bounded on the west 
by the river Halys. Astyages, who reigned from B. c. 594 till 559, 
was the last king' of Media, for in his reign the subject Persians 
rose against the Medes, and having overthrown their power, subdued 
the whole of the Median empire. According to Herodotus, the 
daughter of Astyages married a Persian noble, whose son Cyrus 
usurped the throne of Media, and thus became the founder of the 
Persian empire in B. c. 559. 

10. The history of Cyrus' — setting aside the romance related 
by Xenophon in his Cyropaedia — has been transmitted to us in a 
legendary form by Herodotus. According to this, his grandfather 
Astyages, having been frightened by a dream, gave orders that the 
Bon born of his daughter should be killed ; but the child was saved 

' Properly Koresh or Kurshid, that is, the Sun. 
6* 



66 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

and reared by a ste-dog in the mountains of Persia. He grew up, 
and became the most distinguished archer and horseman among the 
warlike Persians. He must have been one of those mighty charac- 
ters whose mere appearance exercises a peculiar charm upon those 
coming in contact with them, and who, when successful in great 
undertakings, are regarded by their contemporaries as direct instru- 
ments in the hands of the deity. In regard to his early history, all 
that can be said with certainty is, that he roused the Persians to an 
insurrection against the ruling Medes, who were defeated in a 
pitched battle; all Media then fell into the hands of Cyrus, in con- 
sequence of which, the sovereignty passed into the hands of the 
Persians. The Medes afterwards made several attempts to recover 
their lost power, but were unsuccessful. The main advantage 
gained by the Persians was that henceforth they had no longer to 
pay the heavy land-tax which had hitherto been imposed upon 
them by the Medes, the latter having now to fulfil the same obliga- 
tion to them. On the other hand, however, the Persians, who had 
hitherto enjoyed comparative freedom in their own country, were 
gradually brought under the same despotism as those nations which 
had been subdued by their chief All the countries which had been 
subject to Media now naturally owned the sway of the new rulers. 
But that empire did not satisfy Cyrus ; in the course of his thirty 
years' reign (from B. C. 559 to 531) he extended it from the 
Hellespont, the j3^]gean, and the frontiers of Egypt, in the West, 
to the Oxus in the East. Soon after his ascension, he became in- 
volved in a war with Croesus, king of Lydia. This king, it is said, 
had been an ally of Astyages, and now resolved to avenge him on 
the usurper ; but it was probably the fear of being attacked by the 
successful conqueror that induced Croesus to anticipate the plans 
of the enemy. He accordingly made war upon Cyrus, but in a 
battle on the east of the river Halys, the Lydians were defeated, 
and obliged to make a hasty retreat to their own country. Cyrus, 
with unexpected rapidity, pursued the enemy through Cappadocia 
and Phrygia, and appeared before Sardes the capital of Lydia, before 
Croesus was able to assemble a new array. In a short time the city 
and its citadel fell into the hands of Cyrus, and Croesus himself 
was taken prisoner. This important event occurred in the year B. C. 
546. Cyrus is said to have ordered the conquered king to be burnt 
alive, but while standing on the pile, the unfortunate man, remem- 
bering a wise saying of Solon, who had once visited him, and refused 
to own that Croesus, in spite of his immense wealth, deserved to be 
called happy, exclaimed Solon, Solon ! Cyrus, surprised at this, 
asked what it meant, and upon being informed, ordered Croesus to 
be brought down from the pile, and to accompany him to the court 
of Persia. This beautiful story, unfortunately, is in-econcilable with 
chronology, for Croesus did not ascend the throne of Lydia till B. c. 



PERSIA. 67 

560, and Solon himself died in that same year or the one following. 
Certain it is, however, that Croesus for many a year afterwards lived 
at the court of Persia, enjoying the respect and esteem of both 
Cyrus and his son Cambyses. The conquest of Lydia was accom- 
panied by that of other nations in Asia Minor; the Mysians, Phry- 
gians, and Paphlagonians, submitted without a blow ; but the Greek 
colonies in Asia, many of which had been subject to Croesus, and 
the Carians and Lycians, the last of whom had not belonged to the 
Lydian empire, were resolved to defend their freedom against the 
new conqueror. But they were unable to maintain themselves, for 
one Greek city after another, though they defended themselves with 
true heroism, was obliged to submit, and some of them experienced 
all the horrors of cities taken by the sword. The inhabitants of 
Phocaea emigrated, and founded Velia (Elea) in southern Italy. 
The other Greek cities, after the withdrawal of Cyrus, retained their 
own republican constitutions, but were obliged to pay tribute to the 
Persians ; they remained wealthy and flourishing, but their free 
spirit as Greeks gradually disappeared under the Persian rule. Lycia 
and Caria also were overpowered by Cyrus, and the ruler of Cilicia 
recognised the supremacy of the conqueror. All Asia Minor was 
thus reduced. The Lydians afterwards endeavoured to shake off 
the foreign dominion, but were unsuccessful, and the yoke only be- 
came harder and heavier: their arms were taken from them, and 
they were compelled to live in the enjoyment of the wealth they 
possessed, in consequence of which they became demoralised and 
efi"eminate. 

Babylon had not been subject to the Medes, and had therefore to 
be conquered by force of arms. This conquest was not accomplished 
by Cyrus without great efforts, but when effected, added vast terri- 
tories to the Persian empire; for all Syria, together with Phoenicia 
and Palestine, seem at that period to have been subject to Babylon. 
The conquest of Babylon, which took place in B. c. 538, is related 
in different ways. According to the native tradition, Nabonnedus, 
king of Babylon, met the enemy in the open field, but being de- 
feated in a pitched battle, he retreated to Borsippa, the city of the 
Chaldaeans, where he was besieged, and afterwards capitulated. 
His life, however, like that of Croesus, was spared, and he spent 
the remainder of his days in a small principality in Carmania. Ac- 
coi'ding to Herodotus, Cyrus took the city of Babylon by turning 
the course of the river Euphrates, the city being built on both sides 
of it, so that he was enabled to march into the very heart of the 
place as soon as the ordinary bed of the river was dried up. By 
this conquest, Cyrus at once became the sovereign of all the countries 
which had been subject to Babylon. 

The last undei'taking of Cyrus was, according to Herodotus, an 
expedition against the Massagetae, which Ctesias assigns to an 



68 ASIATICNATIONS. 

earlier period, and accordingly makes Cyrus return victorious; 
■whereas Herodotus states that he lost his life in a battle against 
the Massagetae. This nation was probably of the Mongol or Tartar 
race, living chiefly by the chase and on the produce of their herds 
and flocks. They occupied the country about the Caspian sea, or 
the steppes to the north of the river Oxus, and were at this time 
governed by a queen, Tomyris. Cyrus commenced the war against 
them, and entrapped them by a stratagem : he left his camp and 
a great quantity of wine, and when the Massagetae took the camp, 
they indulged so much in drinking as to become intoxicated, where- 
upon Cyrus returned and captured a great number of them, and 
among them the queen's son, who was so mortified at the disaster 
that, although he had obtained his freedom from the conqueror, he 
made away with himself. The queen then, filled with grief and 
revenge, collected a fresh army, and in a terrible battle avenged 
the lo.ss of her son, and of so many of her people. The body of 
Cyrus was treated with insult by Tomyris, for she cut ofi" the head, 
and, throwing it into a bag filled with blood, exclaimed, "Now sate 
thyself with blood, of which during thy life thou wast so thirsty." 
This account, preserved in Herodotus, is, like many of his eastern 
stories, only a popular tradition, though the war against the Massa- 
getae itself cannot be doubted. Certain it is, also, that Cyrus died 
in the year b. c. 531, that his body was buried at Persepolis, and that 
he was succeeded by his son Cambyses, in B. C. 530, who was recog- 
nised throughout the whole empire without any opposition. 

11. Cambyses inherited indeed the warlike disposition of his 
father, but he was violent and tyrannical, whence his reign, which 
lasted until B.C. 522, was as unfortunate for those whom he sub- 
dued as for his own empire. Its two most remarkable events are 
the conquest of Egypt, and the murder of his brother, which led to 
the usurpation of the Magi, so that the government for a time 
passed into the hands of the Medes; until the Persians, recovering 
their courage, threw off" the yoke. From Herodotus it would seem 
as if Cambyses had set out on the Egytian expedition immediately 
after his accession, but this is impossible, for the conquest of Egypt 
is known to belong to the year B. c. 526. The attack upon Egypt 
was made without any provocation, and arose simply from his con- 
sciousness that he was strong enough to conquer the country he 
coveted. The story that his anger was roused against the Egyptians 
by an Egyptian woman, is probably a mere fiction. Egypt was then 
governed by king Psammenitus. Cambyses, assisted by a treacher- 
ous Greek, Phanes of Halicarnassus, invaded Egypt by land and by 
sea, being supplied with a fleet by the Phoenicians, and the mari- 
time towns of Asia Minor. The land army marched into Egypt 
through the desert, but the Egyptians met the invaders on the fron- 
tier, and a decisive battle was fought in the neighbourhood of Pe- 



PERSIA. W 

lusium, in which the Egyptians were completely defeated. After 
this victory the Persians advanced towards Memphis, then the 
capital of Egypt, where the people, in consequence of the national 
antipathy subsisting between the Persians and Egyptians, offered 
an obstinate and almost fanatical resistance. At length, however, 
famine compelled them to surrender, and they were treated with 
fearful cruelty by the conqueror. The Persians being themselves 
worshippers of light and fire, thoroughly despised the religion of the 
Egyptians, and Gambyses and his soldiery insulted and maltreated 
their conquered enemies in every way and on every occasion. Ac- 
cording to Herodotus, Gambyses spent the remainder of his life in 
Egypt, being occupied with designs of fresh conquests, for he wished 
to carry his arms as far into Africa as his father had carried them 
into Asia; but nature opposed him. He first sent an army against 
the Ethiopians, but it perished in the desert under whirlwinds of 
sand. An expedition to the oasis of Siwah (Ammonium) experi- 
enced a similar fate, and these failures only increased the despot's 
cruelty towai'ds the Egyptians. Another expedition wae proposed 
against Carthage, but Gambyses could not undertake this without 
the fleet of the Phoenicians, and as they refused to aid their ruler 
in the subjugation of their own colony, tLe plan was given up. 

Gambyses abandoned himself in Egypt to habits of intoxication, 
and to the gratification of every whim and passion; which hurt the 
feelings of his own Persians no less thnn those of the Egyptians. 
Being taunted by the son of a noble Persian with being too much 
given to drinking, he shot the young man with an arrow through 
his heart; and the father of the youth, who witnessed the deed, 
when asked by Gambyses whether he now believed him to be drunk, 
servilely answered, that a god himself could not have aimed more 
correctly. On another occasion, he ordered twelve Persian nobles 
to be buried up to their neck^ in the earth. Among other atrocities, 
he ordered, in consequence of a dream, his own brother Smerdis to 
be put to death, and the deed was done by the very man whose son 
Gambyses had shot. 

'After this murder a pretender arose, who, with great boldness and 
address, possessed a remarkable resemblance to the murdered prince, 
and came forward at Ecbatana under his name to claim the throne. 
This Smerdis was a Mede, and his brother had been intrusted with 
the administration of the empire during the absence of Gambyses. 
Supported by this brother, Smerdis at once took possession of the 
treasures and the throne of Persia, and the people, tired of the 
tyranny of Gambyses, without hesitation recognised him as their 
ruler. In order to secure their favour, he adopted a policy opposed 
to that of the detested tyrant. When Gambyses heard of all this, 
he sat out against the usurper with his army ; but his career was 
cut short, before he had an opportunity of meeting his enemy ia 



70 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

battle. He accidentally wounded himself with his own sword, and 
died in consequence, mortification having taken place in the wound, 
B. C. 522. As he left no children, the army readily recognised the 
pseudo Smerdis as their king, for as Cambyses had never made the 
death of his brother publicly known, he was generally believed to 
be the real Smerdis. 

12. This is the view taken by Herodotus, according to whom the 
empire was governed by a Mede, while every one believed him to 
be a Persian; but the whole affair seems to have been a revolution, 
by which the Medes endeavoured to recover their lost power, and 
for a time were successful. But, before a year had passed away, 
seven of the noblest Persians led on their countrymen against tbe 
usurper, and overpowed and slew him in his palace. Upon this 
there arose a general insurrection against the Medes and their Magi, 
of whom the Persians slew as many as they could find ; and a fes- 
tival was then instituted to commemorate the event, under the name 
of the Magophonia. When the Medes were completely vanquished, 
the Persians raised one of their own grandees, Darius, the son of 
Hystaspes, to the throne, B.C. 521. He reigned until B.C. 486, 
and this long period was no less important in the history of Persia 
than the reign of Cyrus himself had been ; for Cyrus and Cambyses 
had enlarged the empire by conquests, but Darius organised and 
consolidated the unwieldy mass. He divided his vast kingdom into 
twenty satrapies or provinces, the administration of each of which 
was intrusted to a satrap or governor, whose duties were not indeed 
clearly defined ; but without some such arrangement the empire 
could not have been kept together ; and under the circumstances, 
his institutions must have been as good as any that could have been 
devised, for they lasted till the end of the Persian empire. In ad- 
dition to these internal regulations, Darius also, like his predecessors, 
extended his empire in all directions. He subdued not only the 
border countries of India, but the whole valley of the Indus became 
part of his empire, so that Persian ships sailed up the river as far as 
it was navigable. He also made the Arabs tributary, though their 
country remained free and was not changed into a province. Cyrene 
in Africa, and Thrace and Macedonia in Europe, together with the 
Greek islands near the Asiatic coast, had to pay homage and tribute 
to him. It appeal's to have been his ambition also to subdue the 
jountries around the Euxine^ and to unite the continent of Greece 
Ivith his empire. But in these last undertakings he was not suc- 
Bessful. The Scythian nomades on the lower Danube withdrew with 
their tents and herds, leaving their deserted and ban-en country to 
the enemy, who, from want of provisions, were brought to the very 
briuk of destruction, and would on their return have perished on 
the banks of the Danube, if the Greeks who had been commissioned 
to guard the bridge on that river had agreed to break it down, as 



PERSIA. 71 

Miltiades advised. Darius was more successful in quelling the in- 
surrections which broke out in the interior of his empire. Babylon, 
which made an attempt to shake oif the Persian yoke, was re-con- 
quered through the treachery of Zopyrus, a Persian noble, who is 
said to have mutilated himself in order to win the confidence of the 
enemy. Miletus and the Greek cities in Asia likewise revolted, 
and, although at first successful, had in the end to pay dearly for 
their thoughtless attempt. But we shall afterwards have occasion 
to recur to these events, and must now turn our attention to the 
reforms which Darius introduced in his own empire. 

13. Darius himself and his successors belonged to the noble 
family of the Achaemenidae, besides which there were six other 
great families, from which the generals and great officers of state 
were chosen by the king. The Persians proper, as the ruling peo- 
ple, were exempt from all taxes; at home they were free and 
governed themselves, but as soon as they went abroad or to the 
court, they were slaves like all the other subjects of the king. In 
all the other parts of the empire a uniform system of administration 
and taxation was introduced. The administration was facilitated 
by the division of the empire into satrapies. The military affairs 
in each province were managed by the satrap, but besides him, 
there was a royal scribe in every province, who was quite indepen- 
dent of the satrap, and whose business it was to levy the tribute 
and taxes. Every satrap himself kept a court in his province, and 
lived in royal splendour, deriving his income from all parts of his 
province partly in money and partly in produce of the land. As 
the satraps were generally relations of the king, and were possessed 
of great power, the provinces were without any redress against their 
extortions; for if the governors only took care that the tribute to 
the king was punctually paid, they were allowed to rule according 
to their own pleasure, and satisfy their avarice in any manner they 
pleased. Sometimes they even went so far as to defy the commands 
of their king, and to wage war among one another. On the whole, 
it may be said that, with the organisation it possessed, the Persian 
empire was a mere accumulation of heterogeneous masses, kept 
together only by mechanical means, without any internal bond of 
union, except fear. No attempts were made to destroy the national 
character of the provincials, and the Persian government generally 
left to conquered nations their institutions, laws, and customs, and 
sometimes even their rulers, if they otherwise obeyed the king's 
commands and paid their tribute. But notwithstanding this, the 
provinces generally sank into a state of barbarism, for no laws 
protected them against the arbitrary and despotic conduct of their 
governors, the taxation was extremely heavy, and the loss of political 
independence gradually extinguished that manly spirit without which 
no nation can rise to greatness. 



72 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

The Persian army was very numerous, every man capable of bear- 
ing arras being obliged to serve, and in time of need they were 
called to arms to their various rallying places. The soldiers served 
in their national costumes and armour, which gave to a Persian 
army a very motley appearance. 

The religion of the Persians was the system of the Mede Zoro- 
aster, though it was modified in some points. Fire and the sun 
were objects of worship, and formed the chief points of the Pei>: :n 
religion. The Magi or priests of the Medes were adopted by the 
Persians, together with their religion, and were at first a very 
powerful class of men ; but under the military despotism they gra- 
dually lost their former power and importance. In science and 
literature the Persians have left no great name in history; but the 
noble ruins of Persepolis, consisting of the remains of temples, pa- 
laces, porticoes, reliefs, and other sculptures, and walls covered with 
inscriptions, show that in architecture and sculpture they were by 
no means behind other Asiatic nations. 

The king of Persia, also called the Great King, was a most per- 
fect despot. As in other Asiatic countries, he was regarded as the 
sole proprietor of the land. In their relation to the king, all his 
subjects were only slaves, and the king was master over the lives 
of all his people. AVhoever was admitted into his presence had to 
prostrate himself and kiss the earth. As the throne of Ormuzd 
was surrounded by spirits of light, so the Persian king, his repre- 
sentative on earth, was surrounded by the noblest Persians and a 
most brilliant court, which resided in winter at Babylon, in the 
spring at Susa, and in the summer at Ecbatana. The king's palaces 
were surrounded with splendid parks, called paradises, and well 
stocked with fruit-trees and game, and every thing that luxury could 
devise. The harem of such a Persian sultan was most expensive, 
being maintained sometimes by the revenues from whole cities or 
provinces. The influence exercised upon the court and the princes 
by the intriguing wives of the kings was often of the most pernicious 
kind, and involved one part of the empire in war with another. 



CHAPTER V. 

ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA. 

1. Assyria in its narrower sense was situated on the east of the 
river Tigris, and was consequently a part of Iran ; in a wider sense 
it also includes Babylonia and Mesopotamia, and cromprises the 



ASSYRIA. 73 

countries about tlie Euphrates and Tigris, which latter river forms 
the boundary between the countries of Iran and those of the Semitic 
race. The banks of these rivers were at different times inviting to 
princes who appeared there as rulers or conquerors, to build their 
capitals on them. The northern part of the country, which is 
inclosed between the two rivers, and bears the name of Mesopota- 
mia, is a desert, or rather a steppe, well adapted for nomadic tribes ; 
but the southern plains of Babylonia, which were intersected by 
innumerable canals for purposes of irrigation, were a country of 
extraordinary fertility and productiveness, and Herodotus praises it 
above all other countries known to him. At present those blessed 
districts have become almost a desert under the rude and destructive 
government of the Mahommedans; but the ancient ruins of mighty 
cities and frontier walls, the canals and other means devised for irri- 
gating the country, still attest the high prosperity once enjoyed by 
their inhabitants. 

2. There was a time when the Assyrian empire was regarded as 
the most ancient conquering power in the world ; but of its history, 
as well as of that of Babylon, only fragments have been preserved 
to us by Greek writers and in the Old Testament; and it is some- 
times a matter of extreme difficulty to make the profane and sacred 
authorities agree with each other. According to the Mosaic account, 
Babel or Babylon, the capital of the powerful Nimrod, was the head 
of a more ancient empire; and Assur, proceeding from Babylon, 
founded Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, which would accordingly 
be a colony of Babylon. Greek authorities state the very reverse 
of this, for they represent Nineveh as the more ancient city. But 
the origin of the Assyrian empire is related by them only in mythi- 
cal legends, which have acquired great celebrity, though they can 
hardly be said to embody the ideas which the Assyrians entertained 
respecting their own early history. According to these accounts, 
the founder of the Assyrian empire was Ninus, who built Ninus or 
Nineveh, and subdued a great jjart of Asia. His history is con- 
nected with that of the fabulous queen Semiramis, who was miracu- 
lously saved when only a child, and was possessed of extraordinary 
beauty and mental powers. At the time when Ninus marched 
against Bactra, she was in the Assyrian army ; and when that city 
baffled all his efforts, it was conquered by her prudence and valour. 
The king was thei-eupon seized with such admiration of the heroine 
that he made her his wife, in consequence of which her previous 
husband made away with himself. After the death of Ninus, Semi- 
ramis governed the empire, and among other cities built Babylon 
with extraordinary splendour and magnificence, and undertook vast 
expeditions to extend her dominions by conquest. She subdued 
Egypt and a large portion of Ethiopia; but a war undertaken 
against India with an army of more than three millions of men 
7 



74 ASIATIC NATIONS. . 

I 

proved unsuccessful. After this she resigned the government to 
her son Ninjas, and disappeared from the earth, taking up her 
abode among the gods. Ninyas, the very opposite of his parents, 
never quitted the city, and spent his whole life in the midst of 
women and eunuchs, and in constant amusements. 

3. Such is the story of the foundation of the Assyrian empire, as 
transmitted by the classical writers of antiquity. It is quite clear 
that we are here in the domain of fable and not of history. Ninus 
is only the personification of Nineveh, as Romulus in the case of 
Rome. Serairamis is a Syrian divinity, and perhaps identical with 
Astarte. There can, moreover, be no doubt that Nineveh was of 
more recent origin than Babylon; but how and when it was founded, 
and how it acquired the dominion of a large part of Asia, are ques- 
tions to which no certain answer can be given. It is equally im- 
possible to say how far the Assyrian empire really extended. The 
vast conquests mentioned in the story are beyond all question 
greatly exaggerated ; but there can be no doubt that Babylon, Me- 
dia, and Persia, were subject to it, and that it extended even into 
Asia Minor. 

Diodorus of Sicily, a writer deriving his information from the 
work of Ctesias, a Greek physician who lived at the court of Persia, 
gives the subsequent history of Assyria in a form no less fabulous 
than its beginning. According to him the empire was ruled, for 
thirty generations after Ninyas, by his descendants, who spent their 
lives in idleness and voluptuousness like Ninyas, until Sardanapalus, 
the last of them, even dressed himself as a woman, and acted in a 
most eifeminate and unworthy manner, in consequence of which his 
subject nations rose in arms against him, headed by the governor 
of Media. Sardanapalus, at length rousing himself, defeated the 
rebels in several engagements; but in the end he was overpowered, 
and being unable to defend Nineveh, he caused a large pile to be 
erected, on which he burnt himself, with all his treasures, wives, 
and eunuchs Nineveh thus fell into the hands of the conquerors, 
that is the Medes, after the Assyrians from Ninus to Sardanapalus 
had ruled for a period of 1360 years. 

4. This account of the Assyrian empire and its thirty eifeminate 
kings is as fabulous as the story about its foundation, and the only 
real historical fact in this tradition seems to be, that the end of the 
empire was as inglorious as its beginning had been glorious. The 
duration of upwards of thirteen hundred years assigned to the 
Assyrian empire is likewise more than doubtful, for it is not only 
opposed to all analogy, but to the express statement of Herodotus, 
according to whom the Assyrians had been ruling over Asia for a 
period of five hundred and twenty years at the time when the Medes 
revolted. This latter statement, probable in itself, is confirmed by 
the Armenian translation of Eusebius, in which it is stated that 



ASSYRIA. 75 

Assyrian kings ruled over Babylon five hundred and twenty-six 
I years, and we know that Babylon shook oiF the Assyrian yoke at 
the same time as the Medes, in the eighth century B. c, and both 
nations had evidently been subject to Assyria during the same 
period. According to this view the foundation of the Assyrian 
empire belongs to the thirteenth century B. c, and its final overthrow 
by the Mede Cyaxares, as we have already observed, to the year B. C. 
605, which is about three centuries later than the date assigned to 
its destruction by Ctesias. 

The story about the thirty eifeminate kings, and the time in 
which they are said to have reigned, is moreover opposed to the 
historical statements of the Old Testament, for here we read of 
Assyrian kings in the eighth century, who extended their empire, 
attacked and subdued Babylonia, Syria, Israel, and Phoenicia, and 
made repeated attempts to conquer Egypt. First we hear of king 
Phul (about B. c. 770), who extended his empire westward, and 
approached the kingdom of Israel, which was so terrified that it 
purchased its freedom for a large sura of money. His successor, 
Tiglath-pileser (about B. c. 740), conquered the splendid city of 
Damascus, laid a heavy tribute upon the kingdom of Judah, and 
transplanted many of the conquered people beyond the Euphrates. 
He was succeeded by Salmanassar (about b. c. 720), who invaded 
Israel, and took Samaria after a siege of several years. He led the 
greater part of the Jewish tribes into the interior, and took all the 
important towns of Phoenicia, with the exception of Tyre, which 
baffled his efforts by means of its navy. His successor Sanherib or 
Sennacherib (about b. C. 712) threatened Judah and attacked Egypt; 
but sudden misfortunes compelled him to return without having 
effected his purpose. After his and Assarhaddon's reign (from B. C. 
675 to 626), the Assyrian empire sank more and more, in conse- 
quence of which Cyaxares, king of Media, allied with Nabopolassar 
of Babylon, formed the plan to attack and subdue it. With a great 
force they advanced against Nineveh, and after several reverses 
against Sardanapalus, the last Assyrian king, they succeeded in 
taking and destroying Nineveh, B. C. 605, and thus putting an end 
to the Assyrian empire. As this destruction of Nineveh happened 
nearly three centuries later than the time assigned to it by Ctesias, 
some writers have assumed two Assyrian empires, and supposed that 
after the first destruction a new empire was formed at Nineveh, 
which lasted until its conquest by Cyaxares. But this supposition 
is without any foundation : there never was more than one Assyrian 
empire, and Nineveh was destroyed only once. 

5. The destruction of Nineveh by Cyaxares was no doubt com- 
plete ; and the town of the same name mentioned in later times can 
have been nothing but a small and insignificant place built upon 
the ruins of ancient Nineveh. This last city, situated on the east 



76 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

bank of the Tigris, is spoken of by all writers as a place of such 
vast extent, that modern London, with all its suburbs, would occupy 
no more than half its space. This may indeed be exaggerated, or 
the result of misunderstanding ; but Nineveh must, at all events, 
have been the largest and most important city of western Asia, and 
its inhabitants must have possessed immense wealth, in consequence 
of the extensive commerce carried on by them. Ruins of this 
gigantic city were unknown until very recently, though travellers 
had observed the high mounds covering its site, and suggested that 
excavations might lead to interesting and important discoveries. But 
in our own days, excavations have been made by Botta, the French 
consul at Mosul, and still more extensively by Mr. Layard, on the 
north of the bridge over the Tigris, near the modern Mosul. Walls, 
palaces, and buildings have been laid open, which, with their num- 
berless sculptures, reveal to us at once the mode of life and warfare 
of that ancient people. The inscriptions with which these ancient 
buildings and sculptures are literally covered, may one day help to 
clear up all that is yet mysterious in the history of Assyria and 
Babylonia. The sculptures, many of which are now safely lodged 
in the British Museum, consist of representations of different kinds, 
as festive processions with the king, his courtiers, eunuchs, priests, 
and warriors ; but especially warlike scenes, representing battles, 
sieges, war-chariots, and the like. The conquerors and the con- 
quered are generally distinguished by their features and dress, and 
the latter seem almost in every case to belong to the Semitic race. 
Both men and animals are drawn in these sculptures, not indeed 
without faults, but, on the whole, very correctly, and very expressive 
in their attitudes and movements. They display a state of the arts 
in Assyria, at a period which cannot be more recent than the eighth 
or seventh century B. C, such as we could scarcely have expected to 
find in Asia • for they surpass everything else that is known in the 
history of Asiatic art. The inscriptions on these monuments are 
all of the kind called cuneiform, and when one day they shall be 
deciphered, much new and unexpected light may be thrown upon 
the traditions that have come down to us about the Assyrians. The 
people seem to have been akin to the Arya, but their religion was 
different, for they worshipped idols similar to those of the Babylo- 
nians, of which we shall have occasion to speak presently. 

6. The history of Babylon is closely connected with that of 
Assyria, and the legends of the Greeks, as we have seen, carry this 
connection to the very origin of the two states. But the splendour 
and celebrity of Babylon are undoubtedly much more ancient. 
According to Genesis, it existed even before the dispersion of man- 
kind. This view of the great antiquity of Babylon is supported by 
the calculations of the Babylonian priests, which were based upon 
astronomical observations — observations which went back as far as 



BABYLONIA. 77 

1903 years before the time of Alexander the Great. Berosus, a 
Babylonian priest who lived shortly after the time of Alexander, 
and wrote a history of his country in Grreek, also derived his infor- 
mation from native records ; but unfortunately we possess only a 
few extracts from this work. He began with the cosmogony, which 
in many respects is extremely remarkable, and gave a fabulous 
account of Babylonian history even during the period before the 
flood. But his later history appears to be thoroughly authentic, 
and from it we see that Babylon was conquered and governed by 
foreigners even before it was subdued by the Assyrians in the 
thirteenth century. Babylon was no doubt one of the greatest and 
most ancient cities on earth. It acknowledged, as we have seen, 
the supremacy of Assyria for a period of upwards of five hundred 
years, after which, about the middle of the eighth century b. c, it 
shook off the yoke. At a somewhat later time, it again became 
subject to Assyria, but only for a short period, for its king Nabo- 
polassar assisted Cyaxares the Mede in conquering and destroying 
the Assyrian empire for ever, B. c. 605. 

Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabopolassar, who reigned from b. C. 
604 till 561, and is well known from the Old Testament, is distin- 
guished in history as a great conqueror, who raised the Babylonian 
empire to the summit of its glory. He was engaged in a war against 
the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho, whom he defeated in a great battle 
near Circesium (Carchemish), when he received the news of his 
father's death, which obliged him to return to Babylon. After- 
wards, he conquered the kingdom of Judah, and led many of the 
most illustrious men to Babylon as captives or hostages, among 
whom was the prophet Daniel. The Jews repeatedly revolted, but 
were reduced each time with unrelenting cruelty, and their country 
was almost drained of its inhabitants. In the end, Jerusalem was 
laid waste, aud the bulk of the nation led into captivity. Nebu- 
chadnezzar then directed his arms against Phoenicia, which he 
completely subdued, and invaded Egypt, where he plundered the 
lower valley of the Nile. After his death, the kingdom of Baby- 
lon began to decay ; his successors could no longer think of making 
conquests, but only how they could defend themselves against the 
ever-increasing power of the Medes. But it was in vain that Queen 
Nitocris, the mother of the last king, Nabonedus or Labynctus, 
endeavoured to render the country and city inaccessible, by making 
canals, bridges, and lakes; for it was only twenty-three years after 
the death of NebucLailnezzar, B. C. 538, that Babylon was taken 
by Cyrus. Consideriiig this brief duration of the independent 
existence of the kingdom of Babylon, it could scarcely have attained 
its celebrity, were it not for its connection with Biblical history, 
and the splendour of its capital Babylon. 
7* 



78 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

7. Babylon was situated on both sides of the river Euphrates, 
which flowed through the centre. Like most other great Asiatic 
cities, it was built in the fonu of a large square, and the streets 
intersected each other at right angles. Herodotus calls it the most 
magnificent of all cities known to him, and describes its circum- 
ference as amounting to about sixty English miles; and indeed, 
modern investigations of the site show that it cannot have been 
less; but we must not suppose that the houses were built close to- 
gether in rows, as in modern cities ; on the contrary, there must 
have been many and large districts inclosed within the walls, which 
were not covered with buildings, but were used as gardens, groves, 
and fields. The splendour if the city, the wonder of ancient his- 
torians, probably did not exist previous to the last period of inde- 
pendence, but arose in and after the reign of Nabopolassar, when 
it was the capital of a large empire, and had stepped into the place 
of Nineveh. The city was surrounded by a wall of burnt bricks, 
two hundred cubits in height, and fifty in thickness. The royal 
palace was situated on both sides of the river, and the two parts 
were connected by a bridge. Near it were artificial terraces, of 
considerable height and extent, and covered with plants and trees 
of the most various kinds. These were what are commonly called 
the hanging gardens of Semiramis, but they were constructed by 
Nebuchadnezzar, who ordered them to be laid out to please his wife 
Amiihia, a daughter of Cyaxares, who could not forget the wood- 
clad hills of her native country. Still more magnificent was the 
temple of Baal or Belus, built in the form of a square tower of at 
least three hundred feet in height. It consisted of eight stories, 
the upper ones being smaller than the lower ones, whereby the 
whole acquired the appearance of a pyramid. Babylon sank more 
through the decline of its industry and population, than in conse- 
quence of its subjugation by foreign rulers, and in the end all its 
magnificence became one mass of ruins. Even in the fourth century 
of our era, its site is described as the haunt of wild beasts, as the 
prophet had predicted ; and such is still the case. The extensive 
mounds of ruins and rubbish bear no traces of the ancient magni- 
ficence of the place. The districts between the several mounds are 
covered with bricks and fragments of pottery. The walls of the 
city have disappeared, but the mounds of ruins have for more than 
two thousand years been used by the neighbouring people as quar- 
ries, from which they obtained bricks to build their habitations ; 
nay, whole ship-loads of them have been carried down the river 
Euphrates. The largest and most important of the ruins of ancient 
Babylon is situated on the western bank of the river, and is called 
by the Arabs the tower or palace (Birs) of Nimrod, and by the 
Jews the prison of Nebuchadnezzar. At its base it is upwards of 
two thousand feet in circumference, and as there are several indi- 



BABYLON. 79 

cations of the pyramidal form of the tower of Belus, modern tra- 
yellers have identified it with that edifice. 

8. Babylon continued for centuries to be visited, admired, and 
described by travellers, while Nineveh was lying in ruins; and this 
is probably the main reason why so little information has come down 
to us about the Assyrians, whereas the manners and peculiarities 
of the Babylonians are often alluded to by the ancients. The lan- 
guage of the Babylonians was the Aramaic, a branch of the Semitic; 
but it is generally called Chaldaeic, a name by which the Babylo- 
nians as a people, also are designated,' though it is more commonly 
limited to that portion of the people inhabiting the district of 
Chaldaea on the Persian gulf. These Chaldaeans were undoubtedly 
a foreign tribe, which had immigrated into Babylonia from the 
north ; in their new country they formed a powerful caste, like the 
Brahmins in India, and most of the Babylonian priests appear to 
have belonged to it. The mention of such a priestly caste in Baby- 
lonia suggests the probability that at one time other castes also may 
have existed ; but during the last generations before the Persian 
conquest, regarding which we have authentic accounts, the ancient 
institutions seem to have fallen into decay, and the form of govern- 
ment then was a most complete despotism, as we may see from the 
descriptions of the prophet Daniel. The Babylonians were then 
slaves, as Asiatics have generally been during periods of great 
prosperity; but they forgot their servile condition in their pomp 
and luxury, in their voluptuousness and sensual enjoyments, of 
which the profane as well as the sacred writers draw the most re- 
volting pictures. It may safely be asserted that no city ever was 
more notorious than Babylon for immorality and licentiousness, and 
the women were in this respect far worse than the men. The causes 
of this demoralisation, which has made Babylon proverbial, were, 
on the one hand, the unmitigated despotism of its rulers, and on 
the other, the great wealth of the people, which was so excessive, 
that Babylon, as a province of Persia, alone furnished one-third of 
the entire revenues of the empire. The sources of this wealth 
consisted in the extraordinary fertility of the soil, and the extensive 
commerce of the people, for which the situation of the city on the 
Euphrates was particularly favourable. That river connected the 
city with the Persian gulf, while roads to the west and north put it 
in communication with the Mediterranean and the Black sea. Baby- 
lon was the main transit-town of the precious merchandise which 
was brought from India to the west, and was chiefly conveyed by 
sea to the mouth of the Euphrates. But besides this, Babylon 
itself was celebrated for the productions of its own industry, con- 
sisting of cotton and silk stuffs, costly carpets, and tapestry rich in 

» In the Scriptures, the name is Chasdim, which is etymologically the 
same as Chaldaeans. 



80 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

colours and workmaTiship, which were highly prized even by the 
Romans in the distant west. 

9. The Babylonians, or rather the Chaldaeans, were equally cele- 
brated as diviners ; it was especially by means of astrology that they 
pretended to obtain a knowledge of the future ; and as this know- 
ledge was believed to be hereditary in the caste of the Chaldaeans, 
their predictions were thought to be infallible, and were consequently 
looked upon with great respect. This art of foretelling the future 
by observing the stars, was reduced by the Chaldaeans to a regular 
system, which was called by both Greeks and Romans a Chaldaean 
science ; nay, astrologers in general ultimately came to be called 
Chaldaeans in the south of Europe. The belief in the possibility 
of such astrological prophecies arose among the Chaldaeans, from 
their notion of the divine powers possessed by the stars — a notion 
of which indications occur even in the religion of Ormuzd. The 
sun and the moon, being the most prominent among the heavenly 
bodies, were regarded by the Babylonians as the principal divinities, 
next to whom came the planets, or the twelve signs of the zodiac. 
But these divinities were conceived in human forms, and in this 
anthropomorphism, Baal or Belus, the sun-god, was the supreme 
divinity, whence western nations identified him with the Greek 
Zeus, and the Roman Jupiter or Saturn. Belus was further 
regarded as the founder of the state and city of Babylon, and as the 
progenitor of the Babylonian kings. 

As Belus was the supreme male divinity, so Mylitta, or the moon- 
goddess, was the highest female divinity. Being also the symbol 
of productive nature, she is often mentioned by Greek and Roman 
writers under the name of Aphrodite or Venus. Her worship was 
connected with most revolting obscenity, and seems to have 
contributed not a little to the demoralisation of the Babylonian 
people. 

10. The five planets were the stars from which, in particular, the 
Chaldaeans pretended to obtain their knowledge of the future ; with 
them-, as with all subsequent astrologers, Jupiter and Venus were 
beneficent powers, Mars and Saturn hostile, while Mercury was 
either the one or the other, according to its position. As the 
priests, by their astrological occupations, were led to observe the stars 
and their revolutions, which, in the plains of Babylonia, with their 
bright and transparent atmosphere, was easier than elsewhere, they 
gradually acquired real astronomical knowledge, which enabled them 
to calculate with astonishing accuracy the returns of eclipses of the 
sun and moon. In their chronological calculations they had lunar 
cycles as their basis, but they devised means for bringing the lunar 
and solar years into harmony. They knew and employed the 
division of the day into twelve hours, to determine which they used 
a sort of water-clock or clepsydra, which was subsequently adopted 



PHOENICIA. 81 

by Greek astronomers. This occupation with mathematical calcula- 
tions also led them to other branches of natural philosophy, such as 
mechanics; and in western Asia the Babylonians were the first 
people that had a regular system of weights and measures, which 
was afterwards adopted by the Syrians and Greeks. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PHOENICIA. 

1. Phoenicia is the narrow strip of land in the north and west 
of Palestine, extending from the town of Dora in the south, to 
Marathos in the north. On the west it is bounded by the Mediter- 
ranean, and on the east by mount Lebanon, which furnished the 
Phoenicians with excellent timber for ship-building. Their coast 
country nowhere extended more than a few miles inland, yet their 
importance as a commercial people is not surpassed by any other 
nation of antiquity. 

The question as to who the Phoenicians originally were cannot 
be answered with certainty, though it is a well-known fact that their 
language was Semitic, and that their whole civilisation bore the 
Semitic character. The Canaanites, for this is the name under 
which the Phoenicians are spoken of in the Old Testament, were, 
according to the Mosaic account, sons of Ham, and not of Shem ; 
whence they would belong to the same race as the Egyptians and 
other southern nations. Greek historians also relate that the Phoe- 
nicians were a foreign people, which had originally dwelt on the 
Erythraean sea, or the Persian gulf. We cannot here enter into an 
examination of this question ; but certain it is, that, though they 
were foreign immigrants, they became so completely assimilated to 
the neighbouring tribes, that they cannot be regarded in any other 
light than that of a Semitic people. 

2. The very nature and extent of the country they inhabited 
obliged them to devote themselves to commerce; and the dominion 
which they were unable to found by extending their own country, 
they established by their numerous colonies in nearly all parts of 
the Mediterranean. Under these circumstances, the Phoenicians, 
though numerically a small people, became, by perseverance and 
energy, the first commercial nation in the ancient world, and that 
too, at a time when Greek civilisation had scarcely commenced its 
development. Commerce and navigation were the only means by 
which they could secure their existence, and the coast they inhabited 



82 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

oflfered the best opportunities, on accoiint of its excellent harbours, 
most of which are now completely destroyed by the accumulation 
of sand. Along their coast they built a number of cities, and 
numerous smaller towns, with which the coast was literally studded. 
Of all the enormous commercial activity which must once have 
reigned in those parts, only few traces exist at the present day. 
Cities and splendid buildings have crumbled away, and vast quanti- 
ties of ruins and numberless pillars of granite, porphyry, marble, 
and glass, have in the course of centuries been carried away, or have 
been used as building materials for other edifices. The most ancient 
among the Phoenician cities was Sidon, which was built at a time 
of which history knows nothing. It was the metropolis of most 
other Phoenician towns, and for a long period remained the most 
important and powerful among them, until it was eclipsed by Tyre, 
one of its own colonies. The time of the foundation of Tyre is very 
doubtful, but it certainly cannot have been later than the twelfth 
century B. C. The Tyrians themselves afterwards spoke of their own 
city as more ancient even than Sidon ; but though this undoubtedly 
arose from an excessive partiality for their own native place, yet it 
cannot be denied that in later times it occupied by far the most 
prominent position among the Phoenician cities, and threw Sidon 
into the shade. In this proud position Tyre maintained itself, until 
in the altered circumstances of the world, it lost its independence, 
in consequence of which its wealth and glory vanished. 

3. The sea opened up to Phoenician enterprise the continents of 
Africa and Europe, and all the islands of the Mediterranean, while 
the country was connected by roads and rivers with the great eastern 
empires, so that the commerce of the Phoenicians was not confined 
to any one part of the world, but extended over nearly the whole 
of it. In connection with the Jews, we are told that they sailed 
down the Red sea to a country called Ophir, whence, among other 
valuable products, they brought a particularly fine species of gold. 
It is doubtful what country we are to understand by Ophir, some 
believing it to be the south of Arabia, and others India, but the 
latter seems to be the more probable. It cannot be said against 
this supposition that a voyage to so distant a country was too bold 
an enterprise for the Phoenicians at so early a period, for a story 
related by Herodotus proves as clearly as possible that in the reign 
of the Egyptian King Necho (b. c. 617-601) they circumnavigated 
Africa, and thus anticipated, by more than two thousand years, the 
discovery of the Portuguese. King Necho, Herodotus says, was 
the first to prove that Libya (Africa) is surrounded by the sea, ex- 
cept the part where it is connected with Asia. For he sent out 
Plioenician sailors and ships, ordering them to return by the pillars 
of Hercules to the Mediterranean and Egypt. These Phoenicians 
accordingly sailed down the Red sea into the southern ocean. Each 



PHOENICIA. 83 

autumn they landed on the coast of Libya, which happened to be 
near ; they then sowed corn and waited for the harvest ; after reap- 
ing the corn they again embarked and continued their voyage. In 
this manner they returned in the third year to Egypt by way of the 
pillars of Hercules. They related, that while sailing round Libya, 
they had had the sun on their right hand. All the objections which 
modern critics have made for the purpose of showing that this nar- 
rative is undeserving of credit, are of no weight, and the last 
sentence of the report contains the most irrefragable evidence of its 
truth, for as soon as the sailors had passed the equator, the sun 
must have appeared to them in the north or on their right-band 
side. But unfortunately this great discovery was neglected after it 
had once been made, and no further advantages were derived from 
it. The ancient nations that were powerful at sea did not consider 
it degrading to increase by piracy the profits they made by trading, 
and hence we find the Phoenicians also indulging in this practice, 
not only at sea, but also on land, for they would sometimes avail 
themselves of a favourable opportunity, and, making a descent upon 
a foreign coast, carry ofi" beautiful women and boys, whom they 
afterwards sold as slaves. This traffic of the Phoenicians in slaves 
is attested by several passages of ancient writers, and also by tlie 
Jewish prophets, who complain of Sidon and Tyre having sold the 
sons of Judah as slaves to the Greeks. 

4. No undertaking appears to have been too arduous for the 
Phoenicians, for not only did they navigate the seas in the south 
of Asia, but the pillars of Hercules were no bounds to their enter- 
prise. On the west of Gibraltar they founded in early times the 
colony of Gadeira or Gades (Cadiz), and from it they sailed in the 
Atlantic ocean as far as the islands called Cassiterides (the Scilly 
islands, on the south-west coast of England), whence they brought 
tin, which was not found in any other part of the ancient world, 
and was indispensable as an alloy in founding brass. On these same 
voyages they probably also obtained amber, which was highly valued 
and used in a variety of ornaments. The country where amber was 
and still is found in great abundance, is the Prussian coast of the 
Baltic; but it is doubtful whether the Phoenicians themselves 
fetched amber from those parts, or whether it was brought to them 
by other merchants : the latter is the more probable supposition, 
for we know that amber was conveyed by land to the south of Eu- 
rope. The Phoenicians were more than ordinarily jealous of com- 
petition in their commercial enterprises, and endeavoured by all 
means to secure to themselves a monopoly in their dealings with 
distant countries. For this purpose they invented and spread abroad 
numerous tales about the dangers and terrors to which their seamen 
were exposed in sailing through the Atlantic ocean. Once, it is 
said, a Roman merchant-ship followed a Phoenician in the Atlantic, 



84 A S I A T I C N A T I O N S . 

for the purpose of discoverinfr its secret. But tlie Phoenicians 
thwarted the attempt by allowing their own ship to be wrecked in 
order to draw the Roman into the same disaster. The Phoenician 
captain saved his life, and, on his return home, he received from 
the public coifers an indemnification for the loss he had sustained in 
protecting the trade of his own country against foreign competition. 
5. Nations distinguished for commercial enterprise are rarely 
behind-hand in manufactures and other industrial pursuits, and 
this rule holds good also with the Phoenicians. Even in the 
Homeric poems the Sidonians are mentioned as the authors of works 
of art and skill, and many productions of Phoenician industry, as 
their textile fabrics and the purple dyes, remained celebrated in 
antiquity down to the latest times. In the art of weaving, the 
Phoenicians eclipsed most of their neighbours, and they were be- 
lieved to be the inventors of purple dyeing, which was afterwards 
carried on also in other maritime towns of the Mediterranean, as at 
Tarentum. The purple was not one particular colour, but the name 
embraced a great variety of shades, from bright scarlet to black. 
The dye was obtained from a shell-fish, which was found in abun- 
dance in several parts of the Mediterranean and also in the Atlantic. 
The purple of Tyre, however, was regarded as the best, and the 
cloths dyed in it produced changing colours. Vegetable dyes of 
great beauty and variety were likewise produced in Phoenicia. The 
manufacture of glass is said to have been discovered by the Phoeni- 
cians through the accidental melting of saltpetre mixed with sand. 
This manufacture was for a long time kept secret, to secure the 
monopoly to the Phoenicians. Glass was at first used only as an 
article of ornament, or made into vessels, pillars, and similar things, 
which were very much valued, and formed a most lucrative article 
of commerce. The glass manufactures of Tyre, in particular, were 
very celebrated, and continued to flourish even beyond the period 
of antiquity. This commerce and these manufactures account for 
the immense wealth that was accumulated in the cities of Phoenicia. 
The Hebrew prophets give the most graphic descriptions of this 
state of things, but at the same time inveigh against the pride and 
insolence to which the great wealth gave rise. An invention more 
important than all these which some of the ancients ascribe to the 
Phoenicians, is that of the art of al23habetic writing. The question, 
however, as to whether this honour really belongs to them, has been 
much discussed, and the result is, that although the Phoenicians 
cannot be looked upon as the real inventors, they undeniably had 
the merit of introducing alphabetic writing into Greece, where the 
most extensive and beneficial use was made of the art, and whereby 
they conferred an inestimable advantage upon all the nations of 
Europe. But we shall have occasion to return to this subject here- 
after. 



PHOENICIA. 85 

6. We possess scarcely any means of forming a correc*-, notion of 
the civilisation attained by the Phoenicians. Few Greeks and 
Romans thought it worth their while to study oriental 'anguages, 
and those who did so, did not enter sufficiently deeply into the study 
to furnish accurate pictures of the life of nations so entirely foreign 
to them. The literary productions of the Phoenicians themselves 
are all lost, nor are there any architectural remains that might throw 
light upon their state of civilisation. From some descriptions we 
learn that they were fond of displaying great splendour and magni- 
ficence in the construction of their temples, which wore chiefly built 
of wood and metal. Their introduction of the art of writing into 
Greece, however, shows that they exerted some influence upon the 
nations with which they came in contact, though they were not able 
to stamp their whole character upon any one of them. But they 
themselves did not escape the influence of other nations, and even 
their religion and mythology show the efiects of their commercial 
intercourse with others j for while they transplanted their own gods 
and religious ideas to their colonies and other cities and countries 
with which they were connected, they experienced in return a similar 
influence of othei'S. It is owing to this system of exchanging gods 
and ideas regarding them, that so great a confusion has arisen in 
the accounts of the religions of the ancients ; and hence also the 
facility with which the Greeks and Komans identified their own gods 
with those of foreign nations. 

7. The basis of the Phoenician religion, like that of all the pagan 
branches of the Semitic race, was the worship of the heavenly 
bodies; but this worship became coarse and degenerate in conse- 
quence of the notion which was gradually formed, that the stars 
were persons with all the passions of human nature. The great god 
of the Semitic race, Baal, was called by the Phoenicians Moloch ; 
he was the demon of fire, to whom, for the purpose of appeasing 
his wrath, men, and especially children, were sacrificed in a most 
cruel and revolting manner. The statue of the god was made of 
brass, and when sacrifices were ofi'ered, the idol was made red-hot, 
and the wretched victims were placed in its arms to be slowly 
roasted to death. Their mothers, who were compelled to be present, 
did not venture, from fear, to give utterance to their feelinc;s. Such 
sacrifices of children were offered every year on a certain day, at the 
commencement of great undertakings, and during any misfortune 
by which the country was visited. However, the progress of civili- 
sation and the government of Persia, to which Phoenicia ultimately 
became subject, forbade the perpetration of such horrors. During 
the siege of Tyre by Alexander the Great, some persons, in despair, 
proposed to return to the practice which had long been abolished, 
but the magistrates prohibited it. It is uncertain whether Melkarth 
also may be regarded as identical with Baal or Moloch. His chief 



86 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

temple was at Tyro, but he was worshipped in the colonies also. 
The Greeks partially identified him with their own Heracles, from 
whom, however, they sometimes distinguish him by the attribute 
of " the Tyrian." Among the female divinities, Astarte occupied 
the first rank ; she was the tutelary goddess of the Sidonians, and 
was identified by the Greeks and Romans sometimes with Aphrodite 
or Venus, and sometimes with Hera or Juno. 

8. While in their religious views the Phoenicians were complete 
Asiatics, their political institutions appear to have been more free 
and elastic than those of other eastern nations, and thus form the 
transition from Asiatic despotism to European freedom. The 
country of Phoenicia, small as it was, never formed one connected 
or united state, but each city was independent, and was governed by 
hereditary kings, whose authority was probably limited by a council, 
consisting of the noblest among the citizens. In matters aifecting 
the interests of the whole country, however, the cities seem to have 
acted as a confederation, and one of them took the lead — an arrange- 
ment which sometimes may have led to the permanent supremacy 
of one city over the rest. But we possess no satisfactory intorma- 
tion on these subjects, for not only have we no remains of Phoenician 
literature, but the works of the Greeks who wrote on Phoenician 
affairs are lost. Even the relations subsisting between Phoenicia 
and the empires on the east of it, whose rulers extended their con- 
quests to the Mediterranean and coveted the cities and fleets of the 
wealthy merchants, are scarcely known to us. About B. c. 730, 
when King Salmanassar of Assyria invaded and subdued Phoenicia, 
New Tyre alone, which was then at the height of its power, resisted 
the aggressor; this city had existed for a long time on an island not 
far from Old Tyre ; it had risen to extraordinary prosperity, and 
seems at that time to have exercised a hateful supremacy over the 
other towns, whence these latter even furnished Salmanassar with 
ships to reduce the only place that was fighting for the independence 
of Phoenicia. Even Old Tyre joined the enemy. The island city 
was besieged by Salmanassar for a period of five years, but he was 
unable to take it. At a later period, Nebuchadnezzar, king of 
Babylonia, who sent the captive Phoenicians and Jews into his own 
kingdom, was likewise unable to take New Tyre, although he be- 
sieged it for thirteen years after he had reduced all the rest of the 
country. But this last blow seems to have exhausted the strength 
and resources of the place, for soon after, when the Persians ap- 
peared as conquerors in Western Asia, Tyre, as well as the rest ot 
Phoenicia, was forced to submit, and the country became a Persian 
satrapy. In this condition, Phoenicia, like other satrapies, had only 
to perform certain duties, as to pay tribute, and especially to furnish 
the Persian kings with ships for their maritime undertakings, but 
otherwise the cities were governed as before by their own kings or 
iudges (sufl'etes). But their ancient prosperity and splendour were 



PHOENICIA. 87 

gone, and never again became what they had been. During this 
period the commerce of the Phoenicians was more and more contined 
to the eastern parts of the Mediterranean, — the Carthaginians and 
Greeks taking their place in the western parts. Once, in the reign 
of Ochus, the oppression of the Persian governor goaded the Phoe- 
nicians into a rebellion, which was headed by Sidon ; but the 
attempt failed, and as the king ordered the noblest citizens to be 
put to death, the inhabitants of Tyre set their city on fire, and 
burnt themselves with all their treasures. Tyre, however, continued 
to exist much longer; but when Alexander the Great overthrew 
the Persian monarchy, and Tyre, from the proud feeling of its former 
greatness, attempted to defy the conqueror, he laid siege to it, and 
after seven months took and destroyed the city, B. c. 332. It never 
recovered from this blow, and, after the building of Alexandria in 
Egypt, its commercial importance was completely gone, though it 
continued in a tolerably prosperous condition until a late period of 
the middle ages. 

9. The colonies which the Phoenicians established in nearly all 
parts of the Mediterranean, and by which they not only extended 
their commerce but diffused their knowledge, their language, and 
their religion, are so numerous that it is impossible to suppose that 
all the colonists proceeded from Phoenicia alone ; they must have 
been joined in these enterprises by large bodies of Canaanites. We 
find Phoenician colonies in Cyprus, in Crete, in many of the Greek 
islands as far as the coast of Thrace, in Greece itself, in Sicily, 
Sardinia, the Balearic islands, and especially on the coasts of Spain 
and Africa. The former of these countries attracted them by the 
richness and variety of its natural productions. At a time when 
the west of Europe was known to the Greeks only from vague 
reports, which were worked up by the fancy of their poets, the 
Phoenicians had already discovered the valuable metals, especially 
silver, in which Spain abounded. Its inhabitants are said to have 
been so little acquainted with their value, that they gave to the 
Phoenicians quantities of silver for mere toys and baubles. Their 
most ancient settlement in Spain was Gades or Gadeira (Cadiz), 
founded about the year B. c. 1100, with a famous temple of the 
Tyrian Hercules. Gades continued even under the dominion of 
the Romans, to be one of the most prosperous and populous cities 
in the ancient world. But Gades was not their only colony irj 
Spain : Turdetania, the western part of modern Andalusia, was 
once entirely under their dominion, and this is probably the district 
called by the ancients Tartessus, which has been the subject of 
so much discussion. Utica in Africa was founded about the same 
time as Gades, but all their colonies in Africa were eclipsed by 
Carthage, founded about B. c. 814 by emigrant Tyrians. The 
history of this important city will engage our attention in a later 
part of the work. 



S8 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

CHAPTER VII. 

L Y D I A . 

1. At the time when Cyrus conquered the kingdom of Lydia, it 
embraced nearly the whole of the peninsula of Asia Minor, for 
Lycia, and Cilicia appear to have been the only parts of it which 
maintained their independence. The central portion of Asia Minor 
consists of an extensive table-land, which affords excellent pasturage 
for sheep. The southei'n part is occupied by the chain of mount 
Taurus, which sinks down towards the Mediterranean, just as the 
mountains in the west slope down towards the ^Egean, and in the 
north towards the Black sea. The delightful climate, the rich 
vegetation, and the great fertility of the valleys and coasts, make 
Asia Minor one of the most beautiful and naturally blessed countries 
in the world. In addition to this, its coasts abound in excellent 
harbours, enabling the peninsula to become a most prosperous com- 
mercial country. But, notwithstanding all these advantages, Asia 
Minor has never occupied that position in history to which it might 
seem entitled. Its civilisation was an exotic plant rather than the 
product of native growth and development, and after the overthrow 
of the Lydian empire, it was almost always a part of some other 
empire, either Asiatic or European. One reason of this may have 
been the great variety of nations by which it was peopled ; for the 
east was occupied by tribes belonging to the Semitic race, while the 
western parts, even before their colonisation by the Greeks, were 
peopled by a race belonging to the Indo-European family; and 
many of the smaller tribes in the interior, the north and the south, 
were of unknown origin. 

2. The small district in the west of Asia Minor, forming the 
kingdom of Lydia, appears to have been originally inhabited by 
Meonians, a branch of the wide-spread Pelasgians, who themselves 
unquestionably belonged to the Indo-European family of nations. 
At a later period, about which history furnishes no information, the 
Meonians were overpowered by the Lydians, after whom the country 
was thenceforth called Lydia, for in the Homeric poems this name 
does not occur. These Lydians invaded the country from some 
other part of Asia Minor, and appear to have belonged to the same 
race as the Carians and Mysians. Their manners and civilisation 
were not very different from those of the Greeks, and in the arts of 
life they were as far advanced as their Greek neighbours. But wo 
know nothing of their language, which must have been superseded 
by the Greek at an early period. 



LTD I A. 89 

3. The kingdom of Lydia was governed by two successive dynas- 
ties, that of the Heracleids, and that of the Merninadae — the former 
commencing- with Agron (about B. c. 1200) and ending with Can- 
daules, while that of the Mermuadae begins with Gyges. The 
earlier dynasty is said to have been genealogically connected with 
Ninus, the mythical founder of the Assyrian empire, and to have 
occupied the throne of Lydia for a period of five hundred and five 
years. Its last king, Candaules, fell in an insurrection of Gyges 
about B. c. 716. This change of dynasty is related by Herodotus 
in a very romantic and poetical story, according to which the wife 
of Candaules compelled Gyges to kill her own husband, and then to 
marry her. It is possible, however, that this change of dynasty may 
have been connected with the ascendancy of the Lydians over the 
Meonians. 

Gyges, the first Mcrmnad king, who is said to have reigned from 
B. c. 71G to 678, appears, like his successors, as a conqueror, who 
subdued Colophon and all the Ionian and ^olian colonies of the 
Greeks along the western coast of Asia Minor. Sardcs, with its 
strong citadel, was the capital of the Lydians. The successors of 
Gyges were Ardys (b. c. 678-629), Sadyattes (b. c. 629-617), 
Alyattes (b. c. 617-560), and Croesus (b. c. 560-546), under whom 
the Lydian empire was conquered by Cyrus. The history of these 
kings is remarkable, inasmuch as they continued the conquest of 
the Greek cities, and extended their empire also in the east. But 
they themselves also were attacked by repeated inroads of the Cim- 
merians and Treres, nomadic hordes from the north of Asia, who 
ever since the time of Ardys traversed the country in all directions, 
and established themselves in various parts, until they were over- 
powered and expelled in the reign of Alyattes. This king appears 
to have extended his dominion eastward as far as the river Halys, 
where he came into conflict with Cyaxares of Media. His successor 
Croesus ruled over the whole peninsula, with the exception of Lycia 
and Cilicia, and appears in the traditions as a wise, mild, and bene- 
ficent prince ; he was beloved even by the Greeks who owned his 
rule, for they were left undisturbed in the internal aifairs of their 
cities. He was liberal also towards the Greeks in Europe, whose 
temples he adorned with ricb presents, for his wealth was believed 
to be so immense, that it became proverbial. He was well aware 
of the danger which threatened him from the east, and did all he 
could to avert it j but circumstances were unfavourable to him, and 
his kingdom was overpowered by the Persians in b. c. 546. The 
whole of it then became a part of the Persian empire, and the 
greater portion of it remained in that condition until the conquests 
of Alexander the Great. 



90 ASIATIC NATIONS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



EGYPT. 



1. We close our history of the Asiatic nations with a sketch of 
the history of Egypt, partly because the ancients regarded that 
country as a part of Asia, and partly because its institutions and its 
■whole civilisation are essentially of an oriental character. Egypt, 
in its proper sense, is the valley of the Nile from the islands of 
Philae and Elephantine in the south, to the Mediterranean in the 
north. The inhabitants themselves called their counti-y Chemi, 
and in the scriptures it sometimes bears the name Mizraim. The 
Nile, which traverses it from south to north, is the only river the 
country possesses, and gives a peculiar character not only to the 
country, but also to its inhabitants, who were and are still dependent 
upon it for all that the land produces. The long and narrow valley 
of the river, which is nowhere broader than about eleven miles, is 
bounded on both sides by barren ranges of mountains, and termi- 
nates in a deep bay, which, in the course of time, has been filled 
up with deposits, and at the head of which the river divides itself 
into several branches. The island, thus formed in what was once a 
deep bay, was called by the Greeks the Delta, from its resemblance 
to tbe fourth letter of the Greek alphabet. The valley of the river 
itself is the only part of the country capable of cultivation and fit 
for building towns. The Nile is not only the great high road of 
the country, but also its great fertiliser, by its annual inundations 
of the whole valley, which comTnence about the time of the summer 
solstice, reach their greatest height about the middle of September, 
and then gradually subside. These inundations supply the place of 
rain during the hottest season of the year, and from the rich deposit 
which the waters leave behind, produce a fertility which in ancient 
times entitled Egj'pt to the appellation of one of the granaries of 
the Roman empire. During the period of inundation the whole 
valley was under water, and those parts into which the waters had 
no natural access, were irrigated by means of canals. The cause 
of these periodical risings of the river is the tropical rains in the 
mountains of Abyssinia and the interior of Ethiopia. This pheno- 
menon, which has no complete parallel on the whole face of the 
earth, could not but exercise a powerful influence upon the Egyp- 
tians, and their whole mode of life ; for they had to protect their 
habitations against the ravages of the waters, as well as against the 
constant encroachments of the sand that was blown by the winds 



EGYPT. 91 

into their country from the west. The activity with which the an- 
cient Egyptians had thus to labour for the preservation of that upon 
which their lives depended, shxckened in the course of time, and 
modern Egypt is indebted for its fertile soil, to a great extent, to 
the immense works executed by its ancient inhabitants. The moun- 
tains on the east of the valley of the Nile contained the principal 
mineral wealth of the country, and furnished the materials for its 
numerous and gigantic monuments in stone. 

2. The peculiarities of Egypt and its inhabitants have at all 
times had a great charm for foreign travellers, and in ancient times 
especially for the inquisitive Greeks, whose earliest historian visited 
' Egypt about the middle of the fifth century B. c. The national 
I peculiarities of the Egyptians consisted not only in externals, but 
also in their whole mode of thinking and acting, which presented 
features not met with anywhere else, although we find much also 
that agrees with what is known of other countries. These pecu- 
liarities must have arisen partly from the nature of the country and 
its climate, and partly from the national character of the people. 
In regard to the last of these points we are very much in the dark ; 
the Egyptians, like most ancient nations, looking upon themselves 
as autochthones — that is, as sprung from their own soil. Their 
language, and the innumerable representations of Egyptians in all 
their social relations and occupations, are our only guides in deter- 
mining to what race of mankind they belonged. All the essentials 
of their language are preserved in the Coptic, the language of the 
Christian population of Egypt, who regard themselves as the living 
representatives of the ancient Egyptians. The Coptic has indeed 
long ceased to be a living speech, and is used by the Copts only as 
their sacred language, just as Latin is employed in the Church of 
Rome; but the language exists, and has been examined by modern 
scholars. This much seems certain, that it has no connection witu 
the languages of the Indo-European stock, but some affinity with 
those of the Semitic. Still, however, the resemblance is so slight, 
that it would bo hazardous to infer from it that the Egyptians were 
a Semitic race. 

But if we take into consideration the descriptions we have ot 
the ancient Egyptians, and the still more authentic information 
which we derive from their mummies, and the representations on 
their monuments, we cannot help coming to the conclusion that the 
ancient Egyptians were a mixed race, consisting of difi'erent nations. 
This view is confirmed by the simple fact that they were divided 
into castes. The higher castes in Egypt, as in India, were descended 
from a race endowed with greater intellectual powers, as well as with 
a handsomer physical conformation ; they belonged, in fact, to the 
Caucasian race, while the lower castes consisted of men forming a 
kind of transition from the Caucasian race to that of the nea;roe& 



92 ASTATIC NATIONS. 

The higher castes, wliicli are also distinauislied for their less dark 
complexion, were no doubt immigrants who subdued the native 
population, though we have no histoiical traces of such an immi- 
gration. The mere fact, however, that the higher castes consisted 
of members of the Caucasian race, suggests that the invaders came 
from Asia. There are, moreover, great resemblances between the 
institutions and the civilisation of -Egypt, and those of some eastern 
countries, which justify the conclusion, that at one time or another 
the East must have exercised a certain influence upon Egypt — an 
influence which, according to some, proceeded from Babylon, and 
according to others, from India. 

3. The country in the south of Egypt is often called by the an- 
cients Ethiopia, but is not conceived as a territory with definite 
frontiers either in the south or west. The same name, however, is 
sometimes applied to the empire of Meroe, a country above Egypt, 
enclosed by two arms of the Nile, whence it is called an island. 
This empire of Meroe was, in the strictest sense, a priestly state, 
for nowhere was the priesthood ever so powerful, and nowhere was 
it so perfectly organised as in Meroe. The priests chose the king 
from among themselves; and, when he incurred their displeasure, 
he was forced to make away with himself. The state, however, was 
essentially a commercial one, and the commerce was conducted and 
protected by the priests, for its principal emporia were in the neigh- 
bourhood of temples. Meroe was the country through which the 
productions of the distant lands of the south were conveyed to the 
north of Africa, either by caravans, or by boats on the Nile. This 
commerce was also carried on with Arabia, and through Arabia 
perhaps with India. There are traces leading to the belief, that in 
very remote times Arabia was a connecting link between India and 
the east of Africa, and these have led some historians to consider 
Meroe as the place to which, in the first instance, Caucasian Asiatics 
migrated, and whence they proceeded northward into Egypt. The 
Ethiopians themselves, also, had a tradition, that the inhabitants 
and civilisation of Egypt were of Ethiopian origin ; and according 
to another tradition, the ancient Ammonium in the Libyan desert, 
containing the celebrated oracle of Amnion, whom the Greeks iden- 
tified with their own Zeus, was partially at least a colony of Ethio- 
pians. It may further be observed, that, even at the present day, 
the country called Ethiopia by the ancients, abounds in monuments 
strongly resembling those of Egypt, and apparently the prototypes 
of the latter If, lastly, we bear in mind that the civilisation of 
Egvpt itself gradually proceeded from south to north along the 
course of the river, it seems natural to suppose that its beginnings 
must have come from a point beyond the southern boundary of 
Egypt We must not, however, forget that we are here dealing 



EGYPT. 93 

with mere probabilities, and that there is no convincing evidence 
either one way or the other. 

4. The life and history of the ancient Egyptians are known to 
us, not through native historians or poets, but through the works 
of Crreeks, through the Scriptures of the Old Testament, and more 
especially through the sculptured and architectural works of the 
people themselves ; for those works having withstood the ravages 
of thousands of years, and the destructive hand of man, still 
remain, and bear witness to the greatness of the ancient Egyptians, 
to their skill, their arts, and their mode of life No nation has 
ever so fully portrayed itself in all its pursuits, religious, social, and 
military, as the Egyptians. But Egypt, with all its wonders, was 
comparatively little known until the end of the last century, when 
a new impulse was given to the study of its history and its antiqui- 
ties, by the expedition of Napoleon. The most ancient and most 
remarkable of these monuments are those at Thebes, in the upper 
valley of the Nile. The city of Thebes, the most ancient capital 
of Egypt, was situated on both banks of the Nile, and its site is 
at present occupied by several villages, from which the ruins 
derive their names. Travellers are inexhaustible in their admira- 
tion of the gigantic masses of ruins, of the temples, avenues of 
columns, obelisks, colossuses and catacombs, in which the district 
abounds. The temple-palace of Karnak, like some others of these 
vast structures, probably consisted partially of temples, and partially 
of residences of the Egyptian kings. This stupendous ruin is con- 
nected with another in the village of Luxor by an avenue of colos- 
sal sphinxes, no less than six thousand feet in length — the sphinxes 
standing at intervals of ten feet from one another, but most of 
them now covered with earth. The portico of the temple of Kar- 
nak, to which the avenue of sphinxes forms the approach, is gene- 
rally regarded as the grandest specimen of Egyptian architecture : 
one hundred and thirty-four columns support the edifice ; the 
twelve central ones are of gigantic dimeusions, measuring thirty- 
four feet in circumference, and fifty-six in height, with capitals so 
large, that one hundred men can comfortably stand together upon 
them. The walls of the apartments and chambers here, as in all 
the other temples and palaces, are decorated with statues and figures 
in relief, painted over with brilliant colours. All these monuments 
are of the greatest interest, not only because they display the state 
of the arts at a most remote period, but because the sculptures and 
paintings represent historical occurrences connected with the 
founders of the monuments. The buildings on the western bank 
of the river, though not equal to those of Karnak and Lusor, are 
yet among the finest Egyptian monuments. We there meet with 
the palace and temple of Medinet-Habu, and a structure in the 
vicinity called the Memnonium. A plain, not far from it, bears 



94 ASIATICNATIONS. 

the name of the ' region of the colossuses,' from the number of 
colossal statues with which it is covered, partly standing upright, 
partly overturned, and partly broken to pieces. The two largest 
of them are fifty-six feet high, one of these being the celebrated 
statue of Memnon, which was believed in ancient times to give 
forth a shrill sound every morning at sunrise. Not far from these 
colossal figures, remnants of a building are seen, which has suffered 
much from the destructive hand of man, and is generally believed 
to be the tomb of Osyraandias, mentioned by Diodorus. Most of 
the tombs, however, are under ground, and the necropolis of Thebes, 
extending from Medinet-Habu for a distance of about five miles in 
the Libyan hills, is scarcely less remarkable than the temples and 
palaces of the city itself. The many subterranean chambers and 
passages form a real labyrinth. The walls of these chambers are 
likewise covered with figures in relief, and fresco paintings, in many 
of which the colours are still as fresh as if they were of yesterday. 
They represent the judgment of the dead, their history and occupa- 
tions, and are therefore of great interest to the inquirer into the 
social and domestic customs of the ancient Egyptians. These 
chambers, moreover, are full of a great variety of utensils and 
ornaments, and rolls of papyrus, recording things connected with 
the history of those buried, or rather preserved as mummies in the 
catacombs. The inhabitants of the village of Gurma, at the 
entrance of the necropolis, have for many years carried on a lucra- 
tive traffic in the articles found in the necropolis. Among the 
treasures thence brought to light, we may mention some invaluable 
MSS. of Greek authors, with whose works we should otherwise be 
unacquainted. 

These catacombs, destined for all classes of the people, are far 
surpassed in magnitude and splendour by the tombs of the kings, 
which are situated in a separate and dismal place, well fitted to be 
conceived as the abode of the dead. Many of them have been 
opened and ransacked. These, and a hundred other remains, 
furnish us with the means of forming some idea of the ancient 
magnificence of that capital of Egypt, and no historian or poet 
could do this more effectually or strikingly. The execution of these 
works required an amount of skill and taste which no one would 
expect at so remote a period; for it is an indubitable fact that the 
greatest and most important of them must have been built long 
before the year 1000 B. C. ; and as Egyptian art was then at its 
height, we must date the beginning of its cultivation many cen- 
turies earlier. 

5. It is a matter of the highest interest to determine the time 
when those stupendous structures were erected, for it is only when 
that time is known that we can set the proper value upon its pro- 
ductions. This was formerly a matter of impossibility, but by a 



EaYPT. 95 

most fortunate and ingenious discovery of the present century, the 
key has been found for deciphering and reading the hieroglyphics, 
or sacred symbols, with which many of the Egyptian monuments 
are literally covered. These symbols consist of figures of the most 
various kinds, as heavenly bodies, plants, animals, men, members 
of the human body, utensils, implements, geometrical figures, and 
fantastic forms. About nine hundred symbols of this kind have 
been enumerated, the import of which, with very few exceptions, 
was formerly unknown, although there was no want of ingenious 
attempts to decipher and explain them. At length the savants of 
the French expedition found at Rosetta a stone (at present in the 
British Museum), containing a threefold incription, one in hiero- 
glyphics, the second in the enchorian or popular characters of the 
Egyptians, and the third in Greek. The stone belongs to the 
beginning of the second century B. C. The Greek inscription, a 
translation of the hieroglyphic, and especially the name of Ptolemy 
in it, led Dr. Young to the discovery as to the nature of hiero- 
glyphic writing, which is partly symbolic and partly phonetic. The 
discovery was carried out to its full extent by Champollion, a French- 
man. The expectations entertained by scholars in regard to this 
discovery, however, have been greatly disappointed, for the inscrip- 
tions contain no historical records nor philosophical or religious 
doctrines, but are generally only pompous dedications referring to 
the royal founders of the monuments. Still these very names of 
princes, the representations of their exploits, and the chronological 
information we derive from them, are results which should not be 
undervalued. 

6. AH the civil institutions of the ancient Egyptians were based 
on the system of castes, which was fully developed and strictly 
adhered to among them. The detail of the arrangement, however, 
is very uncertain, as our chief authorities, Herodotus, Diodorus, 
and Strabo, do not agree with one another; but still they are unani- 
mous in stating that the priests and warriors were the two highest 
and most honoured castes. Strabo regards all the remaining people 
as one mass, while Herodotus divides them into five castes, herds- 
men, swineherds, tradesmen, interpreters, and sailors; and Diodorus 
mentions only three, shepherds, agriculturists, and artisans. The 
most important feature, however, in which all agree, is, that the 
priests and warriors were the ruling castes, and that the rest were 
subordinate to them. The priests, moreover, ranked above the 
soldiers, so that the intellectual part of the nation was placed 
above that representing the power of the sword. It will be remem- 
bered that the arrangement in India was of the same character. 
The kings, bearing the title of Pharaohs, were hereditary, and when 
a dynasty became extinct, a new king was chosen either from among 
the priestly or the military ^aste ; and in the latter case, he was at 



96 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

the same time solemnly raised to the rank of priest bv a kind of 
consecration, wLereby he was empowered to perform priestly func- 
tions. The king's authority was very great, and he was profoundly 
reverenced by the peopje ; but he was bound by a series of very 
minute rules and regulations relating to his official functions, his 
recreations, and even the food which appeared on his table. 
These regulations were framed by the priests, who being at the 
same time the king's councillors and advisers, watched over their 
observance. Such an arrangement could not fail to lead to collisions, 
and to excite evil passions both in the breasts of the priests and in 
those of ambitious kings. 

The caste of priests was divided into several ranks ; they were 
either high or low, and were also distinguished according to the 
divinities with whose service they were connected, as well as accord- 
ing to the temples to which tbey were attached. Those belonging 
to the great temples formed diiferent corporations. As the priests 
were the sole depositaries of all knowledge, human and divine, they 
might also be distinguished according to their professions as poli- 
ticians, lawyers, scholars, physicians, architects, &c. They were 
required to be abstemious in their food and drink, and forbidden to 
marry more than one wife ; but on the other hand they were all- 
powerful in the state, their lands were exempt from taxes, and they 
themselves were maintained at the public expense. 

The soldiers, amounting, according to Herodotus, to four hundred 
and ten thousand men, were distributed over the diiferent parts of 
the country, where they possessed estates that were likewise 
exempted from taxes. All the soil of ancient Egypt was in reality 
in the hands of the king and the two highest castes, though the 
citizens of some of the towns also seem to have possessed lands 
within their respective territories. Vf ithin the caste of artisans or 
tradesmen, there were, no doubt, various subdivisions according to 
the different trades and occupations. 

8. The art of war was highly developed among the Egyptians, 
for some of its early kings are described as mighty conquerors, and 
Egypt itself had often to defend its frontiers against foreign invaders. 
The armour and mode of fighting of the Egyptians are represented 
on many of their monuments, where the scenes often remind us of 
the Homeric descriptions of the war at Troy. The art of besieging 
also had made much progress, even in the time of the most ancient 
Imonuments. The administration of the law was in the hands of 
the priests, who are said to have conducted all trials in writing. 
The laws, though some kings had made additions, were on the 
whole very ancient, and were believed to have been revealed by the 
gods themselves. Capital punishment was inflicted on murderers 
(even of slaves), perjurers, false informers, and those who carried 
on any unlawful traffic. Cowards and deserters were regarded as 



EGYPT, 97 

dishonoured men. The wealth and intelligence of the Egyptians 
naturally led them to commercial pursuits, but their trade was 
carried on by land, by means of caravans, more than by sea, although 
the mouths of the Nile were then more fit for navigation than they 
are at present. Their commerce is attested by the fact, that in 
some of the most ancient tombs at Thebes a number of Chinese 
vessels with Chinese inscriptions have been found. It is, however, 
more than probable that the commerce was carried on by foreigners 
visiting Egypt, rather than by the Egyptians themselves going 
abroad, for they shunned coming in contact with other nations, for 
which they entertained generally a thorough contempt. Their own 
peculiar institutions, laws, and customs, naturally tended to keep 
them secluded from the rest of the world. 

All the occupations of their domestic life are better known to us 
than those of any other ancient nation, from the numerous paint- 
ings and representations in their catacombs; and if, along with 
these representations, we had a national literature of the Egyptians, 
we should understand that nation more perfectly than any other. 
We see them engaged in all the agricultural operations, from 
ploughing to reaping, in cultivating the vine and fruit-trees, iu 
tending their herds and flocks of sheep and gefese, and in pursuing 
game and wild beasts with bows, arrows, slings, dogs, and even 
lions, which they were in the habit of taming. Bird-catching and 
fishing seem to have been among their favourite out-door pursuits. 
In other representations we see them engaged in the pursuits of 
town life, some of which are necessary to support existence, while 
others supply the means of gratifying the love of ease, luxury, or 
taste. We see them working in wood, cutting and removing stones, 
weaving, painting, sculpturing, working in gold, jewellery, and the 
like. Their linens and cottons were excellent, as we still see from 
the cloth in which their mummies arc wrapped. Glass also was 
manufactured at an early period. A reed, called papyrus, which 
formerly grew in abundance in the marshy districts of the Nile, was 
one of the most useful productions of the country, its root being 
used as fuel, and the leaves wrought into covers, dresses, canvas, 
and especially paper, (named from papi/riis), which was celebrated 
in all antiquity, and remained a common writing material until the 
time of the middle ages. There can be no doubt that the Egyptians 
were also acquainted with various chemical processes, and in purple 
dyeing it would seem that they surpassed even the Phoenicians. 

Representations of domestic and social scenes are equally frequent. 
The kitchen, as well as the drawing-room, and all that is going on 
in them, are brought vividly before us. From these scenes it is 
pretty evident that the Egyptians were not quite so gloomy a people 
as has sometimes been asserted. The halls of the great and wealthy 
are neither without comforts nor elegance, the furniture appears to 
9 



98 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

be rich and costly, and some articles are beautiful and in exquisite 
taste. Games, amusements of various kinds, and even bull-fights 
are figured on their monuments. The feasts and social entertain- 
ments seem to be very sumptuous, and the guests are anointed and 
waited upon by slaves. Women also took part in these social enter- 
tainments, which is a proof that in Egypt they enjoyed a higher 
degree of freedom than in other eastern countries. It is evident 
that the Egyptians cannot lay any particular claim to temperate 
habits, for we often see them in situations which are by no means 
pleasing. The enjoyment of social meetings is often enhanced by 
dancers and singers. Hence it is not improbable that showing the 
figure of a dead person at banquets may have been intended as 
much to encourage enjoyment as to remind the guests of the 
transient nature of all earthly delights. 

9. But notwithstanding their inclination to enjoy life, the 
Egyptians were a serious and meditative people, and in one way 
or another religion was connected with all their thoughts and cus- 
toms. Their religion seems originally to have been a kind of pan- 
theism, or a worship of God in all his manifestations in nature. 
This view appears to account more satisfactorily for their worship 
of animals than the explanations of the Greeks, according to whom 
it arose out of gratitude towards certain animals on account of their 
usefulness; for it was useful animals alone that they worshipped. 
The coarse animal-worship of later times was probably only a degen- 
erate and corrupt form of what was in its origin a noble, though 
erroneous, idea; and the Egyptians, like some other nations, had 
come to confound the substance with the symbol. In Osiris and 
Isis, they worshipped the fertilizing powers of nature, under the 
names of a male and a female divinity. Kneph or Neph was con- 
ceived as the spirit of God pervading the universe at the creation, 
while Phtah was regarded as the real creator, and Ammon or Amun 
as the king of the gods. The power of evil seems to have been 
personified in Typhon, who in many respects resembles the Persian 
Ahriman. x\mong the animals receiving divine honours in Egypt, 
we may mention the ox, the dog, the cat, the ibis, the hawk, and 
some fishes, all of which were worshipped in all parts of Egypt; 
Gibers enjoyed only a local veneration, while in some places they 
were ngaided as unclean, or were even objects of persecution. 
Thus the sheep was worshipped only in the district of Thebes and 
Sais, the goat at Mendes, the wolf at Lycopolis, the lion at Leon- 
topolis, the eagle at Thebes, the slirewmouse at Athribis, and others 
elsewhere. Whoever killed a sacred animal intentionally was pun- 
ished with death; if unintentionally, he might escape by paying a 
fine. Sometimes even bloody wars are said to have broken out 
between neighbouring districts, because an animal had been killed 
in the one, which was worshipped in the other. This strange 



EGYPT. 99 

superstition and fanaticism maintained themselves among the natives 
even durins the time when the country was governed by Greeks and 
Romans. The prophets of the Old Tt^stament denounced the abs^urd 
worship of animals, the Persians despised it, and to the witty G-reeks 
and Romans it was an object of ridicule. And who can wonder, 
when we are told that, when a cat died a natural death, all the 
inmates of the house shaved their eyebrows, and when a dog died, 
they cut away the hair from all parts of their bodies ! These sacred 
animals, after their death, were embalmed, and deposited as mum- 
mies in the sepulchres of men. In some instances, the worship 
did not extend to whole classes or species of animals, but to one 
particular animal, distinguished from the rest by certain signs. 
An animal of this kind was attended to with the greatest care, and 
the priests charged with it were held in the highest respect. The 
most celebrated among such animals was the bull Apis, which was 
kept at Memphis. The animal was always black, with a triangular 
white spot on the forehead, and the figure of an eagle on its neck. 
It was believed to confer upon boys attending upon it the power of 
prophecy. If it reached the age of twenty-five years, it was killed, 
but otherwise it was allowed to die a natural death. Such an 
event produced general mourning and lamentation, and its burial 
was accompanied by all imaginable pomp and ceremony. But the 
general grief gave way to the most unbounded joy as soon as the 
priest had discovered (or prepared) a calf with the requisite signs, 
and produced the new god. The ancients expressly state that Apis 
was only the symbol of Osiris, whose soul was believed to be in the 
bull, and to migrate after its death into the body of the successor. 

10. This last notion is connected with the belief, which the 
Egyptians shared with the Indians, that the soul, after the death of 
the body, migrated into another. The doctrine itself, however, wa3 
diiferently developed by the two nations, for, according to Herodotus, 
the Egyptians believed that the soul of a man, after his death, had 
to pass through bodies of all the animals of the land and of the sea, 
and even through those of the birds of the air; and that then, after 
the lapse of three thousand years, it returned into the body of a 
human being. When, notwithstanding this theory of the migration 
of souls, we hear of the belief of the Egyptians in the existence of ' 
a kingdom of the dead, called Amenthes or Amenti, the sojourn of 
the souls in it cannot have been conceived as permanent, and it was 
probably regarded only as a transition state in which the mode of 
migration was determined by Osiris, the judge in the kingdom of 
the dead. His judgment-seat is often represented in Egyptian 
paintings, and we there see the actions of the departed regularly 
weighed in a pair of scales. A similar judgment is said to have 
taken place in Egypt whenever a person had died. On such an 
occasion, any one might come forward with accusations against th« 



100 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

deceased, and when the charges were proved, the burial of the body 
was forbidden. Even deceased kings had to undergo such an ordeal. 
The priests, it is said, eulogised him, but the assembled people 
either agreed, or expressed their dissent by a tumultuous noise, and 
if the latter prevailed, the king was deprived of the customary 
magnificent burial. This regulation, together with the priestly 
control over the government, was probably the reason why few of 
the Egyptian kings made any gross abuse of their power. 

11. To be debarred from honourable burial could not but make 
the deepest impression in a country where the greatest care and 
large sums of money were bestowed upon the burial and preservation 
of the bodies, which were embalmed and deposited in the chambers 
of the catacombs. These mummies, as they are called, were em- 
balmed in a more or less expensive way, according to the circum- 
stances of the deceased and his relatives. The body was wrapped 
up in fine linen or cotton, decorated with various ornaments, and 
covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions, and finally placed in a cofiin 
or sarcophagus. Such extraordinary care bestowed upon the preser- 
vation of the body, seems to be irreconcilable with the doctrine of 
the migration of souls, as well as with that of a kingdom of the 
dead, unless we assume that the preservation of the body was be- 
lieved to be indispensable to the immortality of the soul. There 
can be no doubt that the religion of the priests differed in many 
essential points from that of the great mass of the people. "VVe 
have little information about the extent and amount of knowledge 
possessed by the Egyptian priests, simply because the country had 
no national literature. The god Thoth was regarded as the author 
of all knowledge, and believed to have invented arithmetic, geome- 
try, astronomy, and the art of writing. Geometry and astronomy 
were cultivated by the Egyptians -as a matter of necessity, in conse- 
quence of the annual inundations, by which the limits of the diffe- 
rent lands and estates were swept away. The year of the Egyptians 
consisted of twelve months of thirty days each, and five intercalary 
days ; such a year was by nearly a quarter of a day less than the 
ordinary solar year, and in the course of fourteen hundred and sixty 
years of this kind, the difference between it and the Julian year 
' amounts to a whole year. This fact was well known to the Egyp- 
tians, who called that period tho dogstar period. Whether this 
astronomical knowledge had been gained by the priests themselves, 
or whether it was imported from Babylonia, cannot be determined ; 
but certain it is that the science made no progress in Egypt, but for 
many centuries remained stationary at the point at which we first 
meet with it. Such was the case with all the sciences and the arts 
of the Egyptians, among whom everything continued to move 
within certain fixed limits established by custom and lawgivers; 
nay, a physician who adopted a new mode of treatment, was li;ible 
to a capital prosecution, if his patient died under it. 



EGYPT. 101 

The belief that the god Thoth had invented the art of writing, 
has received some illustration from the discovery of the nature of 
hierotrlyphics, some of which are really phonetic, or a kind of 
alphabetic writinoi;, and there can be no doubt that the alphabets of 
the Semitic tribes in Western Asia, such as the Hebrew and Phoe- 
nician, were only a farther development of the foundation which 
had been laid in Egypt. But here, too, the stationary and immo- 
vable character of the Egyptians did not allow them to complete 
what they themselves had invented, so that, in the end, they had to 
adopt the alphabet of their neighbours, who had learned the rudi- 
ments from them. The probability is, that the Phoenicians were 
the first who evolved a complete system of alphabetic writing from 
the rude beginnings they had learned from the Egyptians. Among 
the latter people, the want of a convenient alphabet no doubt con- 
tributed towards preventing the formation of a national literature, 
but their peculiar mode of thinking was probably a still more serious 
obstacle. Whatever literary productions the Egyptians possessed, 
may reasonably be supposed to have been nothing but dry records 
of facts and doctrines. Oratory and poetry, in particular, appear 
to have been quite foreign to them. The great number of musical 
instruments seen on their monuments, leads us to suppose that they 
possessed very considerable technical skill; but the state of music 
among all oriental nations, does not allow us to assume that they 
ever advanced beyond the simplest melodies. 

12. The arts in which they were greatest, and which will secure 
to them the admiration of all ages, were architecture and sculpture. 
The character of the former is massive, grand, and earnest, and this 
character, combined with the gigantic dimensions of the temples at 
Thebes, produces an effect of sublimity which it is difficult to 
describe in words. The impression of solidity is enhanced by the 
fact that the outer walls rise slantingly instead of perpendicularly, 
while the roofs are completely flat. But all these temples are want- 
ing in the unity of design which distinguishes the temples of the 
Greeks. The interior of the Egyptian temples is generally sup- 
ported by numerous columns, whose capitals are of the greatest 
variety — the ornaments consisting mainly of productions of the- 
vegetable kingdom. The uniformity of the strong walls is some- 
times relieved by sculptures and paintings. 

In middle Egypt, in the neighbourhood of Memphis, we meet 
with the celebrated pyramids, which do not occur in upper Egypt, 
and which were formerly regarded as among the greatest wonders 
of the world. They are structures of the simplest form, generally 
rising from a broad square base, and, gradually diminishing, end at 
the top in a point, or a small square surface. Their interior is 
almost a solid mass, being traversed only by a few narrow passages 
and chambers. They are found in groups on the elevated plains of 
9* 



102 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

the Libyan hills, and the highest occur in the group of GIzeh. The 
loftiest among those, which is about four hundred and fifty feet 
high (each side at the base is about seven hundred and sixteen feet), 
is called the pyramid of Cheops — it being believed to be the one 
whose construction is ascribed by Herodotus to King Cheops. The 
height is about the same as that of the highest steeples in Europe, 
but in massiveness the pyramids are far more imposing. Originally 
the outer sides were covered with polished stones of different 
colours, but these coatings have been taken away by the Arabs, and 
at present not a vestige of decoration is left. Innumerable conjec- 
tures have been formed as to the purpose for which these structures 
were raised; but the general opinion at present is, that they were 
sepulchral monuments of kings, for they stand in the Necropolis of 
Memphis, and are surrounded by numerous other tombs ; and in 
every one of the pyramids which have been explored by Europeans, 
a sarcophagus has been found. The date of the foundation of these 
singular mausoleums, is probably more recent than that of the 
Theban tombs, which are entirely different. 

13. Sculpture and painting are inseparably connected with the 
architecture of Egypt. The mechanical skill which the Egyptian 
artists possessed is really astonishing, for their statues and reliefs 
are all made of the hardest granite and porphyry, and wrought with 
a neatness and exactness which prove them to have been perfect 
masters. The forms of the bodies are strong and massive, and on 
the whole in accordance with nature, but the anatomy is not correct, 
and generally made according to a fixed type. The faces present a 
sort of transition from the Caucasian to the negro race, and some 
are by no means unhandsome; but they are stiff, without life or 
warmth, and are generally likewise of a fixed type. The statues in 
a sitting or striding attitude are likewise stiff, and nearly always the 
same. The historical reliefs and paintings have more life and ani- 
mation, and in some of them national peculiarities are well ex- 
pressed. The same may be said of the domestic scenes j but the 
highest objects of art appear not to have been aimed at. The 
Egyptian artists were more successful in their statues and reliefs of 
animals, than in their representations of the human form, and this 
arose probably from the fact that in the former they were less con- 
strained by types and conventionalities. The gods are represented 
as beings with human bodies, but with the heads of animals, such 
as those of rams, hawks, ibises, and bulls. The sphinxes, on the 
other hand, have the body of a lion, with a human head. This 
combination was probably intended to indicate great strength, which 
in other cases was expressed by the superhuman size of the figure. 

The character of Egyptian art is, on the whole, monumental — 
that is, its main object is to fix that which is conceived as a fact, 
and to transmit it to posterity. The true idea of art is neither 



EGYPT. 103 

aimed at nor attained ; but the great meclianical and artistic skill, 
which might so easily have led to higher developments, remained 
stationary, like all other branches of Egyptian civilization. 

14. The principal Greek writers on Egyptian history are Hero- 
dotus and Diodorus, both ot whom visited Egypt themselves, and 
collected their information from the priests ; but their accounts, 
though agreeing in many points, diverge in others so widely, that 
they almost appear like histories of two diiferent countries. In the 
first half of the third century B. C, Manetho, an Egyptian priest of 
Ileliopolis, at the request of king Ptolemy Philadelphus, wrote a 
history of Egypt in Greek. As he had no difficulty in gaining 
access to the records kept by the priests, and was also in a position 
to read and understand those documents for the explanation of 
which foreigners were dependent upon others, his work, if it had 
come down to us, would be a far more important and trustworthy 
source of information. But unfortunately the work is lost, with 
the exception of a few extracts, containing lists of thirty dynasties 
of kings with the years of their reigns ; and even these extracts 
are so carelessly made, that in some cases they present almost insur- 
mountable difficulties. The most authentic of all the records are 
the hieroglyphic inscriptions, which furnish us with many names 
and surnames of kings, their titles, the periods of their reigns, and 
their relation to the gods. The reading of these hieroglyphic 
records, in very many instances, confirms the statements of Manetho, 
and thus proves this historian to have derived his information from 
authentic sources. The statements of Herodotus and Diodorus, on 
the other hand, can scarcely be reconciled at all with the docu- 
mentary history, and seem in most cases to furnish only a kind of 
popular traditions which those travellers heard in Egypt. Another 
very important source of information is the books of the Old 
Testament. 

The chronology of Egyptian history has often been the subject of 
learned discussions. According to the chronology of Manetho, the 
foundation of the kingdom of Egypt belongs to the year B. C. 3892, 
and its foundei*, no doubt a mythical personage, was Menes. But 
it is impossible to take the early dynasties as historical. 

15. The history of ancient Egypt is conveniently divided into 
four periods, — 1. The Pharaonic period, during which the country 
was governed by native princes; it extends from the beginning to 
the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses in b. C. 526 ; 2. The Persian 
period, from B. C. 526 to the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the 
Great in B. C. 332; 3. The Macedonian or Greek period, from the 
foundation of Alexandria in B. C. 332, to the death of Cleopatra 
and the conquest by Augustus in B. c. 30 ; and, 4. The Roman 
period, from B. c. 30 to the capture of Alexandria by Khalif Omar 
in A. D. 640. 



104 ASTATIC NATIONS, 

The Pharaonic period may again be divided into the periods of 
the old, the middle, and the new monarchy. The first extends from 
the beginning to the invasion of the Hycsos; the second is the 
period during which the Hycsos reigned in Egypt; and the third 
from the expulsion of the Hycsos until the conquest of the country 
by Cambyses. 

16. The unhistorical character of the old and middle Pharaonic 
periods is sufiiciently indicated by the circumstance that Egypt is 
said to have been first governed by gods, spirits, demigods, and the 
souls of the departed. After these there follow thirty dynasties of 
mortr"! kings, the first of whom was Menes. The number of these 
kings, according to some, was three hundred, and according to 
others five hundred. The earliest dynasties present in many re- 
spects as yet insurmountable difficulties, for it is uncertain whether 
tlaey are to be taken as a series, or whether at least some of them 
were contemporary kings, ruling in different parts of Egypt. But 
the names found in hieroglyphic inscriptions, and identified with 
names of kings occurring as early as the fourth dynasty, seem to 
prove that the lists of the eai'liest human dynasties ought not to be 
rejected as altogether fabulous. The twelfth dynasty in Manetho, 
containing seven kings of Diospolis, seems to bear strong marks of 
historical authenticity; in it occurs the celebrated Sesostris or 
Sesortasen, who is said to have subdued all Asia and Europe as far 
as Thrace, and to have built the Labyrinth. But this dynasty has 
not yet been confirmed by any monuments, and Sesostris probabl}'' 
belongs to a much later period. The fifteenth, sixteenth, and 
seventeenth dynasties are those of the Hycsos or Shepherd kings, 
who are said to have ruled over Egypt for a period of five hundred 
and eleven years. From Manetho, as quoted by Josephus, we 
derive tolerably satisfactory information about these Hycsos. In 
the reign of an Egyptian king Timaus, he says, a foreign people 
(probably nomadic Arabs) invaded Egypt from the east, subdued 
the country without diflSculty, killed or enslaved its inhabitants, 
and burnt cities and temples. In the Sethroite nonie or district 
they built an immense earth-camp called Abaris, and their capital 
was Memphis. In the end, however, the Egyptians recovered 
their independence : the Hycsos were besieged at Abaris, and 
obtained a free departure from the country, whereupon they retired 
into Palestine. These Hycsos were no doubt a Semitic people, and 
akin to the Israelites; they must have been a warlike nation, which 
at first destroyed the traces of civilisation in Egypt, until after- 
wards they accommodated themselves to some extent to the man- 
ners and customs of the conquered people. It was, in all likelihood, 
during their reign that Joseph came to Egypt, and the reception 
which his people met with in Egypt is accounted for by the fact 
that the Hycsos were a kindred race. The new king who " knew 



EGYPT. 105 

not Joseph," and oppressed the Israelites, was probably the first 
prince of the native dynasty after the expulsion of the Hycsos. 
The foreign rulers themselves have left behind no monuments in 
Egypt, but the struggles between them and the Egyptians are 
represented on several monuments, in which the Hycsos appear as 
defeated and fugitive barbarians. It was probably owing to the 
vanity of the Egyptians, who did not like to own that their country 
was ever subject to foreign rulers, that the priests gave no informa- 
tion about these occurrences to Herodotus and Diodorus. 

17. The new monarchy extends from the expulsion of the Hycsos 
or the accession of the eighteenth dynasty down to the thirtieth or 
last, and there can be no doubt that this whole period is in all essen- 
tial points historical. The expulsion of the foreign invaders was 
the commencement of the most brilliant period of Egyptian history. 
The eighteenth dynasty, which, like the nineteenth, had Thebes 
for its capital, was the period when P]gyptian art reached its highest 
point. The names of its kings appear on many monuments at 
Luxor and Karnak, and also on the tablets of Abydos and Karnak. 
The great Rameses of the eighteenth dynasty was a conqueror who 
extended his dominions far and wide, and received the tribute of 
many subject nations. In the south, Egypt was extended to the 
second cataract of the Nile, in the west to the negro tribes of the 
interior of Africa, and the east was guarded by strong -fortresses. 
Rameses is further said to have traversed Syria and Asia Minor as 
a mighty conqueror, and to have advanced as far as the frontiers 
of Persia and the shores of the Caspian sea. Such conquests re- 
quired fleets, and Egypt itself must at that time have acquired a 
naval power, or else have compelled the tribes on the Syrian coast 
to furnish it. The conquests of llameses in Asia can probably not 
be doubted, but appear not to have been lasting, as afterwards we 
hear nothing of a dominion of Egyptian kings in those parts. The 
struggles against the Hycsos seem to have braced the nation, and 
enabled it not only to crush its oppressors, but to plant its yoke 
upon the necks of others. The great Rameses is probably the same 
king as the Sesostris or Sesortasen of Herodotus and Diodorus. 
The period during which the eighteenth dynasty possessed the sove- 
reignty of Egypt extended from b. c. 1655 to 1326. 

The history of the nineteenth dynasty, which ruled from B. C. 
1826 to 1183, is very confused ; but Egypt still continued to enjoy 
a high degree of prosperity. Herodotus places the kings who built 
the pyramids, Cheops, Chephren, and Myarinus, several genera- 
tions after Rameses (Sesostris) ; but although the names, as recent 
discoveries have shown, are historical, yet the historian was deceived 
in the time he assigns to them, for they belonged to the fourth 
dynasty. 

18. After the nineteenth dynasty, the power and prosperity of 



106 ASTATIC NATIONS. 

Eo'ypt appear to have ffi'^dually decayed, and at the close of the 
twenty-fourth the country was subjugated by the Ethiopians, who 
furnish the twenty-fifth dynasty, consisting of three kings. Hero- 
dotus knows only the first of them, Sabaco or Sebichos, who, accord- 
ing to that historian, reigned over Egypt for fifty years and then 
quitted it of his own accord, whereupon the previous king Anysis, 
having concealed himself all that time, again came forward and 
occupied the throne. After him Sethos, a priest of Pthah (Hepha- 
estus), usurped the sovereignty, and, as might be expected, reduced 
the power of the military caste to the advantage of that of the 
priests. The cause or occasion of this revolution is not mentioned 
anywhere, but must probably be looked for in the altered circum- 
stances of the country, for it had to some extent become a maritime 
power, and the commercial part of the population may have sup- 
ported the priestly against the military caste. It was in the reign 
of Sethos, that the Assyrian conqueror Sennacherib (about B. c. 
712) threatened to invade Egypt with a large army. As the war- 
rior caste bore the king no good will, he was in great difficulty in 
consequence of their refusal to serve against the invader. Trusting 
to a dream, it is said, he formed an army of merchants, artisans, 
and the populace, and went out against the enemy. But during 
the night a host of mice injured their bows, arrows, and shields so 
much, as to oblige them the next morning to take to flight. These 
occurrences, though apparently fabulous, must have some historical 
foundation ; for we know from the Scriptures that, about the same 
time, Hezekiah, being hard pressed by Sennacherib, sought the 
assistance of Egypt, and that the Assyrian army perished before it 
was able to take Jerusalem. The Scriptures speak of an Ethiopian 
king Thirhaka, who marched out against the Assyrians, and this 
king is, according to Manetho, the third and last king of the 
Ethiopian dynasty, and identical with the one whose name appears 
in the Egyptian monuments as Tahraka. As Manetho does not 
mention either Sethos or Anysis, it is possible that these princes 
may have maintained themselves only in lower Egypt, while the 
upper part was in the hands of the Ethiopians. 

19. If there be any truth in the story about a priest taking pos- 
session of the sovereign power in Egypt, it is evident thiit the 
ancient constitution of the kingdom must have been seriously 
shaken. The same truth is implied in the story of the dodeearchy, 
which, according to Herodotus, succeeded Sethos, and maintained 
the ascendancy for a period of thirty years, from B. c. 700 to 670. 
This dodeearchy was the government of twelve contemporaneous 
kings, whom the Egyptians themselves are said to have appointed; 
they formed connections with one another, and maintained justice 
in their administration of the affairs of the country. These twelve 
rulers are said to have built the Labyrinth, a little above lake 



EGYPT. 107 

Moeris, which was ik»','>nc'ed to be their common place of burial. 
The remains of this p-irrntic building, which have recently been 
discovered, show that Herodotus' account of its three thousand 
chambers is by no means exaggerated. But he seems to be mis- 
taken in ascribing to the dodecarchy a structure which can scarcely 
be of a later date than the time of the eighteenth dynasty. The 
.dodecarchy is not mentioned by Manstho; but it would be hasty to 
infer from this, that our account of it is altogether a mere fable. 
The manner however in which Herodotus describes the end of the 
dodecarchy, clearly shows that he is relating only a popular legend. 
The twelve, he says, had received aa oracle at the beginning of 
their reign, that the sovereignty of the country should in the end 
belong to him who should offer a libation in the temple of Hepha- 
estus from a brazen vessel. Once the priest, instead of the usual 
twelve golden vessels, brought only eleven ; Psammetichus, the 
ruler of Sais, then took off his helmet and offered the libation out 
of it. The other eleven princes, alarmed by what they saw, for 
they suddenly remembered the oracle, attacked Psaametichus and 
drove him into the marshy districts of lower Egypt. The banished 
prince, desirous to avenge himself on his colleagues, consulted the 
oracle of Buto, which returned the answer, that he should be 
avenged by brazen men coming from the sea. After a time, Ionian 
and Carian pirates were obliged during a storm to land on the coasJ; 
of Egypt, and Psammetichus seeing their brazen armour concluded 
that they were the men promised by the oracle. He accordingly 
induced them by liberal promises to join him, and with their assist- 
ance he overthrew his enemies, and made himself sole king of 
Egypt, which he governed from B. c. 670 to 617. 

'AO. The mere fact that a dynasty of princes acquired possession 
of the sovereignty by means of foreign support, opens a new period 
in the history of Egypt, which had hitherto shut itself jealously 
against all foreign influence. During this period, however, Egypt 
once more displayed, at least partially, its ancient power and great- 
ness ; but this revival was of short duration, for the nationality of 
the Egyptians had grown inflexible in its ancient forms, and was 
unable to assimilate the new elements introduced by Psammetichus. 
His object appears to have been the regeneration of Egypt by 
means of Greek civilisation, for to the lonians and Carians who had 
assisted him he assigned lands on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, 
and intrusted to them Egyptian boys to be instructed in the 
manners and language of the Greeks. He further intended to 
raise and strengthen his kingdom by encouraging the intercourse 
between it and foreign countries, by opening the ports to foreign 
merchants, and by extending commerce over the whole country. 
The native militia was superseded by regular Greek soldiers, and a 
portion of the military caste, offended at these and other measures, 



108 ASIATIC NATIONS, 

emigrated into Ethiopia. He also formed a caste of interpreters 
or dragomans, to assist the natives in their intercourse with 
foreigners. The opposition which these measures called forth did 
not deter him from pursuing the path he had once struck into ; and 
both he and his successors, who followed the same line of policy, 
were supported by their foreign jaiercenaries, who formed the real 
strength of the Egyptian armies. Neither Psammetichus, however, 
nor his successors, interfered with the religion of their subjects; we 
find them, on the contrary, as zealous in their religious observances 
and in maintaining and completing the ancient temples, as any of 
their predecessors. 

21. Psammetichus was succeeded by his son Necho, or, as Hero- 
dotus calls him, Necos, who reigned from B. c. 617 to 601. We 
have already related that this king employed Phoenician sailors to 
circumnavigate Africa.' In his reign, Egypt came into conflict 
with Babylonia, which was then rising on the ruins of the Assyrian 
empire. Judah was at the time in alliance with Babylon, and its 
king Josiah, who opposed the army of Necho, was defeated in a 
great battle at Megiddo in B. c. 608. Necho then took Jeru.salem, 
and having appointed Eliakim king of the country, and imposed an 
annual tribute upon it, he returned to his own kingdom ; but four 
years later, when the war with Babylon was continued, and Necho 
had advanced as far as the Euphrates, he was completely defeated by 
Nebuchadnezzar in the battle of Carchemish or Circesium, on the 
eastern bank of the Euphrates, B. c. 604. 

This catastrophe put an end to Necho's scheme of conquering 
Syria, which had already been partially carried into efi"ect by 
Psammetichus. Both rulers had not only been attracted by the 
wealth and prosperity of the Phoenician cities, but were guided also 
by the conviction that Syria and Egypt were of the greatest import- 
ance to each other for mutual protection. Necho also knew that 
the two countries could not be maintained without a fleet, and 
accordingly had caused numerous ships to be built, both on the 
Mediterranean and on the Eed sea. In this he must have been 
supported by the Phoenicians, with M'hom he seems to have kept 
up a good understanding. It was in consequence of these schemes 
that he attempted to connect the Mediterranean and the Red sea 
by a canal, which undertaking he is said to have left unfinished, 
because one hundred and twenty thousand men lost their lives 
while engaged in the work ; but we know for certain, that in the 
reign of Darius, the canal was open for large vessels, and traces of 
it may be seen at the present day. It has now been neglected for 
upwards of a thousand years. 

2;i. Necho was succeeded by his son Psammis, who reigned only 

' See page 82. 



EGYPT. 109 

six years, from B. c. 601-595, and Psammis by his son Apries (the 
Uaphris of the monuments, and Hophra of the Old Testament). 
The latter reigned from B. c. 595 to 570. Pursuing the same 
policy as his predecessors, ho made war upon the Phoenicians, and 
subdued Tyre, Sidon, and Cyprus; but these acquisitions were not 
lasting, being snatched away by the Babylonian conquerors. In 
his reign, Egypt was for the first time assailed by its neighbours in 
the west, and the Greeks of Cyrene completely anniliilated his 
army in a battle at Irasa. This defeat and the cruelties to which 
it gave rise, created great discontent among his subjects, especially 
the soldiers, who rose against him in arms. Amasis or Amosis, 
who was despatched by the king to pacify the malcontents, was 
raised by them to the throne, and then led the troops against his 
former master, who, being supported only by his brave Ionian and 
Carian mercenaries, while the native troops sided with Amasis, was 
defeated in battle, and afterwards murdered by the populace. 

Amasis reigned from B. c. 570 till 526. He was a man of low 
origin, and his previous conduct was not of a kind to recommend 
him to the higher castes, for he is said to have been several times 
convicted of theft. But he possessed the affection of the soldiers 
and the people, and was thus enabled to disregard nearly all the 
rules and ceremonies of the priests. He displayed during his 
reign great shrewdness and prudence, and though he had dethroned 
the race of Psammeticus, he did not break oif his connection with 
the Greeks, but, on the contrary, continued to confer considerable 
privileges upon them. His friendship with Polycrates, tyrant of 
Samos, is well known. In his reign Egypt enjoyed a prosperity 
such as it never after expeVienced under any of its native rulers. 
He died just in time, for his son Psammenitus had scarcely been 
six months in possession of the throne, when Egypt was invaded 
and conquered by the Persians under Cambyses, the son of the 
great Cyrus, B. c. 526. 

23. Egypt thus became a satrapy or province of the Persian 
empire, though its internal affairs continued to be managed by native 
kings of the twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, and thir- 
tieth dynasties. The natural and religious aversion subsisting 
between the Persians and Egyptians, frequently caused the latter to 
rebel against their foreign oppressors, and this spirit of resistance 
was fomented by the numerous Greek and Jewish settlers in the 
country. The first great revolt broke out in B. c. 487, in the reign 
of Darius Hystaspis, who was thereby obliged to postpone his in- 
tended invasion of Greece for a period of three years. The rebel- 
lion, however, was suppressed by his successor Xerxes in B. c. 484. 
A second revolt, under Inarus, in which the Egyptians were aided 
by the Athenians, also proved unsuccessful, after having lasted from 
10 



110 ASIATIC NATIONS. 

B. C. 462 till 456. Under Amyrtaeus, the only king of the twenty- 
eighth dynasty, Egypt, from circumstances that are not known to 
us, regained its independence. His sarcophagus, after many vicis- 
situdes, is now deposited in the British Museum. The last revolt 
occurred during the thirtieth dynasty, in the reign of Neetanebus 
II. ; but in B. c. 350, Egypt was reconquered by the Persians, and 
the last king of that dynasty withdrew as an exile into Ethiopia. 
The country now remained subject to Persia, until, in B. C. 332, it 
was conquered by Alexander the Great; after whose death it again 
became an independent kingdom under the dynasty of the Ptole- 
mies, until in B. c. 30 it was conquered by the Romans. But of 
its history under the Ptolemies and the Romans we shall have occa- 
sion to speak in a subsequent part of this work. 



BOOK II. 

HISTORY OF GREECE, MACEDONIA, AND THE 
GRAECO-MACEDONIAN KINGDOMS. 



CHAPTER I. 

GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GREECE. 

1. In passing from Asia into Europe, we first meet, in the south- 
eastern peninsula of the latter continent, with the Greeks, or, as 
they were called by their native name, Hellenes. The civilisation 
of this small but illustrious people spread its mild and beneficent 
influence, more or less, over the whole of the ancient world, and in 
many respects has never been surpassed either by ancient or modern 
nations. Its literature and its arts are generally distinguished by 
the epithet classical — a term which also comprises the civilisation 
of the Romans, both Greeks and Romans being, so to speak, plants 
growing out of the same root, and belonging to the same sphere of 
intellectual development, though the Greeks reached a great and 
decided pre-eminence ; for the civilisation of Greece was the model 
of that of Rome, and incomparably more refined and varied. In 
Greece we find man endowed with rare gifts and noble impulses, 
which ai-e either wholly denied to oriental nations, or accorded to 
them only in an inferior degree. The Greeks were distinguished 
by a happy physical organisation, by extraordinary acuteness, flexi- 
bility, and versatility of mind, and by the power of developing 
within their own nationality a vast variety of specific forms ; they 
felt the need, and possessed the ability ever to cast ofi" that which 
had become obsolete and antiquated, and to assimilate to themselves 
that which was new and full of life; they had the full consciousness 
of the value of political liberty and independence, and were ever 
striving to obtain and preserve this blessing. Their outward eyes 
were no less keen in observing the forms and beauties of external 
nature, than their mental vision in tracing the relations subsisting 
between man and man, between man and nature, and between God 
and man. But as nothing human is quite perfect, we must be pre- 
pared to meet, in the character even of this gifted people, with 
features which cast a shade over their brilliant qualities, and fill our 

(111) 



112 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

hearts with sadness, in the contemplation of human infirmities. 
First of all, the Greeks were pagans, and thereby deprived of that 
blessed feeling afforded by the belief in one God, who embraces all 
his creatures with love and care ; they were agitated by strong pas- 
sions and desires, which found vent in the disputes among political 
parties, and among the numerous small states and independent' 
communities into which the countiy was divided. This want of 
union brought about the downfall of their national independence 
much earlier than might have been expected from their intellectual 
superiority. But notwithstanding these and other drawbacks, the 
history of the Greeks presents so much that is ennobling, elevating, 
and instructive, that we may easily forget the darker sides of the 
picture, and lovingly dwell upon its bright and wonderful phe- 
nomena. 

2. The name Hellas, by which Greece was called by its own in- 
habitants, was originally confined to a small district of Thessaly, 
whence, in the course of time, it was extended to all the countries 
inhabited by Hellenes, both in Greece proper and in the numerous 
colonies all around the Mediterranean. In a more restricted sense, 
however, Hellas signified the country north of the isthmus of 
Corinth, extending northward as far as the Ambracian gulf in the 
west, and the mouth of the river Peneius in the east. These 
boundaries of Hellas proper, as it is sometimes called, however, do 
not mark the exact lines by which the Greeks or Hellenes were 
separated from the non-Greek or barbarous tribes ; for both Acar- 
nania and j3i]tolia were inhabited by peoples which are expressly 
said not to have been Hellenes, while, on the other hand, some 
writers even excluded Thessaly from Hellas, extending its boundary 
in the north-east only as far as the Maliac gulf. In the restricted 
sense here described, the southern peninsula of Greece, called Pelo- 
ponnesus, formed no part of Hellas; but being inhabited by Hel- 
lenes, it was of course as much a part of Hellas, in its wider sense, 
as Attica or Boootia. The Romans, for reasons not clearly ascer- 
tained, called Hellas Graecia, and its inhabitants Graeci, and from 
these Roman names the modern Greece and GrceJcs are derived. 

3. Hellas, then, is the southern portion of the easternmost of the 
three great peninsulas which form the southern extremities of Eu- 
rope, and among these three Hellas possesses the same advantages 
that make Europe superior to the other continents ; for although the 
country itself is but small, in fact scarcely so large as the little 
kingdom of Portugal, it has an enormous extent of coast, on account 
of its numerous bays, gulfs, and creeks. In the north Hellas was 
protected by a range of mountains running from west to east, under 
the name of the Cambunian mountains, the eastern part of which 
was the celebi'atcd Olympus. In the west of Thessaly, which itself 
forms a large basin, mount Pindus, the highest in Greece, runs from 



GREECE. 113 

north to south, and near its southern extremity branches off, form- 
ing the chains of Othrys and Qllta. The heights of Phocis, Doris, 
Boeotia, and Attica, also belong to the system of Pindus, which 
even extends to some of the islands of the JEgean. Thessaly is 
separated in the south from the rest of Greece by mount ffita, which 
at the same time was a protection to the southern countries, so long 
as the few passes of the mountains were well guarded. The most 
celebrated of these passes is that of Thermopylae, consisting of a 
road leading between the steep side of mount ffita and the sea. 
This pass, about five miles in length, was of the highest importance, 
as it formed the only road into the southern part of Greece for 
armies coming from the north, and, being in some parts extremely 
narrow, could easily be defended. At present the coast has been 
extended by deposits from the sea; but the district can be easily 
recognised, and the hot spring, from which the pass derived its 
name, still sends forth its warm sulphureous water. The largest 
rivers in all Greece are the Peneius in Thessaly, with its romantic 
valley near the mouth, between mounts Olympus and Ossa, and the 
Achelous in the west, between ^tolia and Acarnania. 

In the south of Thessaly the peculiar conformation of Hellas is 
most obvious and striking in the extraordinary variety of rugged 
and romantic mountains, some of which are bare, while others are 
clad with rich vegetation. Nature herself here seems to render 
uniformity and the union of several tribes into one state impossible. 
It may be said that this part of Hellas, between mount (Eta and 
the Corinthian gulf, is the country of the most striking contrasts, 
for not only do sea and land, mountains and valleys, rugged rocks 
and fertile plains alternate with one another in richest variety, but 
two adjoining plains are sometimes so different, that in the one the 
little rivers and streams are always filled with water, while in the 
other they are nearly always dry. During the hot season of the 
year, almost all are dried up, but the abundant dew makes up for 
the want of water. The courses of the rivers are very short, the 
country itself being narrow, and surrounded nearly on all sides by 
the sea, which in many places enters deeply into the land, and forms 
large bays. The very form of the country, with its indentations, 
mountains, and valleys, appears to have stamped its character upon 
the inhabitants, for it prevented their falling into sloth and effemi- 
nacy, while it braced them, and kept them in a state of activity and 
watchfulness. 

The climate of this part of Greece produced an equally salutary 
effect; for while the fertility of the country produced everything 
that was necessary to sustain life and to afford pleasure, yet the 
exertion of man could nowhere be dispensed with, so that the love 
of enjoyment could not be gratified without labour, the real condi- 
ment of all pleasure. The heat, which during «Le summer season 
10* 



114 HISTORY OF GREECE, 

would be oppressive, is tempered by the breezes from the sea and 
the mountains, some of which are, during a great part of the year, 
covered with snow. The transparency of the atmosphere and the 
brilliancy of the sun present all the objects of nature to the eye in 
a much purer and brighter light than in the northern parts of 
Europe, and even more so than in Italy. The country produced in 
most parts abundance of grain, wine, olives, and figs ; but as it 
yielded nothing without labour, nature herself prevented the Greeks 
from falling into that state of listlessness and indolence which in 
many Asiatic countries has so materially checked the progress of 
civilisation. 

4. Such is the general character of Hellas proper, and its dif- 
ferent parts or provinces either combine all these features, or exhibit 
some of them more prominently than others. In proceeding from 
the south of Thessaly, through the pass of Thermopylae, we enter 
the maritime country of the Opuntian Locrians, and thence on the 
south-west we reach Phocis, with its renowned Parnassus, on the 
southern slope of which was situated Delphi, celebrated for its 
ancient oracle of Apollo, and regarded by the Hellenes as the centre 
not only of their own country, but of the whole earth. On the 
west of Phocis was the little country of Doris and the Ozolian 
Locrians. Further west we have the rugged country of ^tolia, 
which impressed its own character upon its inhabitants, and Acar- 
nania, which, separated from ^tolia by the river Achelous, is 
washed by the Ionian sea, and forms the last Greek country in the 
west. On turning from 'Phocis eastward, we enter Boeotia, which 
is divided by mount Helicon and its ramifications into two great 
valleys. The northern one is a deep hollow shut in by mountains, 
which is partly filled up by the lake Copais ; this lake, however, 
is more like a large swamp, especially in summer, for it is only 
towards the end of winter that it really assumes the appearance of 
a lake. It has outlets in the east towards the sea by means of sub- 
terranean passages called catabathra. Ancient Orchomenos was 
situated on the border of this lake, which sometimes overflowed the 
country far and wide, and was believed to have in very remote times 
swallowed up entire cities. The second or south-eastern division 
of Boeotia formed a fertile plain with its capital Thebes, whose 
inhabitants were notorious for their fondness of good living. The 
atmosphere of Boeotia was thick and heavy, and the Boeotians were 
believed to be dull and unintellectual. Boeotia is bounded in the 
south by the mountains Cithaeron and Parnes, on the other side 
of which we have Attica, the most memorable region in regard to 
the intellectual life of the Greeks, though its soil is by no means 
as fertile and productive as many other parts of Hellas. Its extent 
of coast is greater than that of any other province of Greece proper, 
and was therefore particularly calculated to direct the attention of 



GREECE. 115 

its inhabitants to a maritime life. On its western side, where the 
sea forms the Saronic gulf, we have its capital Athens with the 
port-town of Piraeus. Attica is separated from Peloponnesus by 
the sea and by the small country of Megaris. 

5. The great peninsula of Greece terminates in a smaller one, 
Peloponnesus, which, however, is an island rather than a peninsula, 
being connected with central Greece only by the narrow isthmus 
of Corinth. Nearly the whole of Peloponnesus is, like the rest of 
Greece, a mountainous country, and some of its mountains are of 
considerable height. Arcadia, the central part, is a high, uneven, 
and rough table-land, but contains excellent pasture, whence its 
inhabitants devoted themselves almost entirely to the feeding of 
flocks. The rough climate and their mode of life kept the Arca- 
dians throughout the history of Greece in a more primitive state 
than any of the other Greeks. The plateau of Arcadia is sur- 
rounded on all sides by lofty mountains, which send their ramifica- 
tions into the eastern and southern parts of the peninsula. All the 
mountains of Peloponnesus bear strong marks of great convulsions 
that have taken place in their formation, in some parts masses of 
rocks being piled upon one another, while others are distinguished 
by deep and wild ravines. The other countries or provinces of 
Peloponnesus are grouped around the central heights of Arcadia. 
The northei'n coast land comprises Achaia, Sicyon, and Corinth ; 
in the east Argolis consists of a peninsula. In the south of Arcadia 
mount Taygetus extends southward as far as cape Taenarou, and 
divides Messenia from Laconia; while an eastern branch, mount 
Parnon, runs almost parallel, and terminates in cape Malea. Sparta, 
the capital of Laconia, was situated in the broad valley of the river 
Eurotas, at a considerable distance from the sea. The greater part 
of Laconia, being a rough mountainous country, admitted of little 
cultivation, though the valley of the Eurotas contained some very 
fertile districts. Messenia, on the other hand, which has many rich 
plains, was among the most fertile parts of Greece. On the western 
coast, between Messenia and Achaia, we have Elis with its fruitful 
plains and its mild delicious climate. Olympia, on the banks of 
the Alpheus, though it was not a city but only a mass of groves, 
altars, temples, a race-course, and other buildings erected for the 
convenience of the Hellenes assembling there every four years foi 
the celebration of the Olympic games, was a place of far moro 
importance than the capital, which bore the same name as the 
country. 

6. The numerous islands by which Greece is surrounded belong 
to it in all essential points, for they are of the same physical and 
geological structure, and were at one time, no doubt, parts of the 
continent of Greece, from which they have been torn by volcanic 
or other agencies. The fertile island of Euboea stretches along 



116 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

Phocis, Boeotia, and Attica ; it is traversed by liigh mountains 
belonging to the chain of Pindus. The same chain is continued in 
the islands on the south-east of Euboea and Attica, and extends as 
far as Astypalaea ; but Cos and the other islands in the north and 
south of it belong to Asia. The ancients called the European 
group of these islands the Cyclades (lying in a circle), and the 
Asiatic Sporades (the scattered). The uEgean sea, in which all 
these islands are situated, is closed in the south by Crete, the 
largest of all the Greek isles. As the navigation of the ancients 
consisted chiefly in coasting or sailing across narrow channels, these 
islands were of the greatest convenience to the Greeks in their 
intercourse with Asia, Africa, Italy, and Sicily, all of which coun- 
tries accordingly were colonised by them at an early period. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE MYTHICAL PERIOD OF GREEK HISTORY. 

1. The history of Greece from its earliest dawn down to the migra- 
tion of the Dorians, about B. c. 1100, is thoroughly mythical, for all 
the actions of individual men, as well as of whole communities, are 
described as influenced by and interfered with by an imaginary world 
of gods and beings of a higher order. But this very period, which 
in history is the most obscure, has been surrounded by the poetic 
and imaginative genius of the Greeks with a lustre quite unequalled 
in the legendary history of any other nation. It was to them the 
period of the great and mighty heroes whom they looked upon as 
their glorious ancestors; who were guided in their exploits by the 
gods, or struggled against their oppression and persecution ; it was 
the period of which the events were immortalised by poets and 
artists, and in later times believed with the same firmness as the 
occurrences of well authenticated history. It would however be 
a serious mistake if we were to assume that the mythical lays 
of the ancient heroes had no other foundation than the fancy and 
imagination of the poets. Poets did not invent the substance of 
the lays, but derived it from the legends current among the people; 
and it was for this reason that the well-Snown stories, when clothed 
in poetic language, had such a charm, and exercised such an influ- 
ence upon the Greeks, who derived from them their chief mental 
food and sustenance. Their faith in those legends was for a long 
time very intense, and the recollection of the heroes was kept alive 



THE MYTHICAL AGE. 117 

not only in poetry, but by relics sbown in different places, by tbeir 
tombs, and temples scattered over various parts of Hellas. We 
must further not be supposed to assert that after the Doric migra- 
tion mythical legends all at once give way to history, for real history 
does not begin until the time of which we have contemporary records, 
and that time commences in Greece at a much later period than 
among the Asiatic nations which had a historical literature. His- 
j torians do not appear in Greece until about five centuries after the 
Doric migration, and during this intervening period between the 
mythical and truly historical ages the tendency to form myths was 
by no means extinct; on the contrary, the events handed down by 
oral tradition acquired more of a mythical than of a really historical 
character ; but the mythical tendency no longer metamorphosed 
events in the same way as before ; poets did not, until a very late 
period, take their subjects from that intermediate epoch, and con- 
sequently no deep interest in the occurrences of that period was 
felt or created. When, therefore, historians afterwards arose, the 
events of that period were either little known or known only as 
popular traditions. 

2. It is the business of the historian to endeavour to discover 
that which constitutes the real groundwork of these rich and nu- 
merous legends and traditions about the early Greeks ; but this task 
is beset with insurmountable difSculties. The immense variety of 
Greek legends so singularly interwoven with one another, and often 
contradictory, present at first sight an inextricable chaos, from 
which it seems impossible to extract anything of historical value. 
The stories about the heroes form the principal part of the mythical 
history, but some of them are so much interwoven with fables 
about the gods, that it is impossible to separate the one set from 
the other. So long as the legends about the gods were implicitly 
believed, no inquiries were made, but as soon as the faith in the 
gods disappeared among the better educated classes of the Greeks, 
several modes of explanation were devised. Some considered the 
myths to be mere allegories or symbols, embodying certain physical, 
ethical, or religious truths; others imagined that the gods had 
originally been great men, as kings and heroes, to whom their 
fellow-men paid divine honours for the benefits conferred upon 
their race. This latter view, though the most foolish and super- 
ficial of all, was adopted by some of the most eminent authors of 
antiquity, and has maintained its ground with many even in modern 
times. 

3. Myths are never the result of an arbitrary or fanciful opera- 
tion of the human mind, but are formed, in the early periods of a 
nation's history, instinctively and necessarily, in consequence of the 
manner in which men look at nature and the phenomena by which 
they are surrounded. The laws according to which this process 



118 HISTORY OF GREECE, 

took place among the Greeks can still be ascertained with tolerable 
accuracy, from the numerous instances which speak for themselves, 
and from the rich literature which reveals to us the peculiar views 
and modes of thinking of that gifted people. Ancient institutions 
and customs, of which no satisfiictory explanation could be given, 
were accounted for by mythical stories, in which their origin was 
ascribed to certain occurrences; facts connected with the worship 
of the gods were metamorphosed into legends about their apparitions 
and interferences in human aifairs; emigrants, taking M'ith them 
from their former homes the worship of a particular divinity, would 
naturally form the belief, in the course of time, that the god him- 
self had commanded them to quit their country, and had guidt-d 
them to their new homes. Legends, moreover, which the settlers 
found established in foreign lands, were eagerly caught up and 
combined with those which they brought with them. These, and 
innumerable other circumstances, were the natural sources of mythi- 
cal legends ; but it is nevertheless often a matter of extreme diffi- 
culty in any given case to find the right key to the explanation of 
a myth ; this will be easily understood if we remember that a simple 
legend has often been greatly modified and embellished by poets, 
so that we are required not only to divest the legend from these 
poetical additions, but to discover the true foundation of the simple 
legend itself After the time of Alexander the Great, when the 
creative genius of the Greeks had died away, they themselves 
undertook the task of collecting the mythical legends of their 
nation ; and the rich stores of information accessible to them enabled 
them to reduce the whole mass to something resembling a con- 
tinuous history ; but they were ignorant in their notions about the 
nature of mythical legends, whence we cannot always place full 
confidence in their statements, nor can we distinguish the original 
materials which they collected, from the additions which they them- 
selves devised as connecting links. 

4. Thus, if we inquire after the primitive inhabitants of Greece, 
we meet with statements which have proved the greatest puzzle to 
all historians that have endeavoured to throw light upon the ques- 
tion. The Hellenes, the name which subsequently belonged to the 
whole nation, appear in the earliest traditions as inhabiting only a 
part of Thessaly, whence they are said to have spread over the 
whole of continental Greece, and the islands surrounding it. But 
while they were yet confined to a portion of Thessuly, they were 
surrounded on all sides by a great race commonly called Pelasgians. 
Who these Pelasgians were, is a question which the ancients them- 
selves were unable to solve, and which modern writers have answered 
in the most difi'erent ways. This much is certain, that in the re- 
motest ages they occupied the north-western coasts of Asia Minor, 
and nearly the whole of Greece and Italy, and that in the historical 



PELASGIANS AND HELLENES. 119 

ages tliey had vanished everywhere, except in a few isolated places, 
where they maintained themselves and continued to speak their 
ancient lansuage. It was this early disappearance of the Pelasaians 
that gave rise to the diiferences and contradictions in the traditions 
about them, for while some called them autochthones, that is, 
sprung from the earth itself, others state that they had immigrated 
from abroad, and had led a wandering life. The notion that they 
were autochthones implies no more than that they had inhabited 
the south-east of Europe from time immemorial, that is, probably 
from about tlie nineteenth century before Christ. The wandering 
character ascribed to them can scarcely be referred to the migra- 
tions that led them into Europe, but probably arose from the fact 
that, during the subsequent commotions in the countries occupied 
by them, they were expelled, and obliged to seek new homes in 
foreign countries, as, for example, during the changes which took 
place in G-reece in and after the Trojan times. The most recent 
ethnological and philological inquiries have yielded the following 
results in regard to this intricate question, and we have no doubt as 
to their substantial correctness. The population of Europe emi- 
grated from the East at a time which lies beyond all history. The 
first great body of immigrants was in all probability that which 
peopled the larger part of the south-east of Europe, and which we 
may call Pelasgians, for the name is of no consequence. They pro- 
bably crossed the Hellespont, and occupied the countries to the 
south of mount Haemus and the Alps — one branch occupying the 
eastern peninsula of Greece, and the other the peninsula of Italy, 
in which countries they gradually proceeded from north to south. 
Some of these Pelasgians, however, appear to have remained in the 
north-west of Asia Minor, extending from the Hellespont to the 
river Maeander in the south. It is self-evident that many of the 
islands of the ^gean were likewise occupied by them. Some few 
parts of Greece appear about the same time to have been inhabited 
by tribes foreign to the Pelasgians. The races which at subsequent 
periods successively immigrated into Europe, and occupied the 
countries north of mount Haemus, were the Celts, Germans, and 
Slavonians, all of which must have proceeded from the same great 
parent stock, as their languages testify; but the affinity among the 
different tribes of the Pelasgians who took possession of Greece and 
Italy was much greater. 

5. The Hellenes in Thessaly were probably only a distinct branch 
of the great Pelasgian race ; at least v,e have every reason to believe 
that in language they differed no lu^i, than the Goths and Saxons, 
two tribes of the Germanic stock. This close affinity between 
Hellenes and Pelasgians also accounts for the fact, which woula 
otherwise be inexplicable, that during the extension and conquests 
of the former, the latter so completely amalgamated and united 



120 HISTORY OP GREECE. 

with them, that afterwards nearly all traces of the original differ- 
ences disappeared — a result which could scarcely have followed, 
had the two races been quite distinct. As to the state of civilisa- 
tion amons; the Pelasgians previous to their subjugation by, or 
amalgamation with the Hellenes, it has been asserted that they 
were little better than savages ; but we have the strongest possible 
evidence that the whole race, even before the separation which led 
one branch into Greece and the other into Italy, had attained posses- 
sion of at least the elements of civilisation. Many words referring 
to agriculture, the breeding of cattle, and human habitations, are 
common to the Sanscrit, Greek, and Latin, and thus prove that the 
things designated by such words must have been known to the 
nations before their separation and dispersion. The same fact is 
implied in various traditions, as, for example, that the first town on 
earth was built by a son of Pelasgus, that the most ancient towns 
and institutions in general are referred to the Pelasgians — that 
tbey invented a number of things required in agriculture, and lastly, 
that they were the first to make use of the alphabet which was 
introduced among the Greeks by the Phoenicians. Other evidences 
of the progress made in the arts of civilised life by those earliest 
inhabitants of Greece, exist at this day in many parts of Greece 
and Italy, in the gigantic remains of architectural structures, such 
as royal palaces, treasure-houses, and walls built of large square or 
pol3\2;on blocks. These we find in Italy, and in Arcadia, Argolis, 
and Epirus. Even large tunnels and dikes are ascribed to them. 

6. Their religion consisted, no doubt, mainly in the worship of 
the powers of nature, many traces of which are visible also in the 
religion of the Hellenes, though they are more numerous in the 
purer religion of the Italians. Their principal god was Zeus, whose 
most ancient seat of worship was at Dodona in Epirus. He there 
also had an oracle which retained its celebrity for a very long period, 
until in the end it was eclipsed by that of Delphi. This male 
divinity had his counterpart in the female Dione, who was his wife, 
and the mother of Aphrodite, the goddess repi-esenting love and 
fertility. In some parts, such as the islands of Samothrace, Imbros, 
and Lemnos, in the north of the JEgean, a certain mj^sterious 
Pelasgic worship continued to exist down to a late period. The 
most remarkable branch of the Pelasgians were the Pierian Thra- 
cians, who inhabited the coast district of Macedonia north of mount 
Olympus, for mythology tells us that there the first poets flourished, 
such as Orpheus, Musaeus, Thamyris, Eumolpus, and Linus, all 
mythical personages who probably never existed; but the legends 
about them show that, according to the notions of the Greeks, poetry 
had been widely and enthusiastically cultivated by the Pelasgian 
Pierians, and had been employed by them for the exaltation and 
embellishment of their religious worship. 



PELASGIANS AND HELLENES. 121 

7. The civilisation thus commenced by the Pelasgians entered 
upon a new stage of development at the time when the Hellenes 
began to spread over central and southern Greece. The origin of 
the Hellenes is connected in the fabulous legends with the earliest 
period of the mythical ages, and their ancestral hero is called 
Hellen, a son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, the pair saved from the 
great flood. Hellen had three sons, Dorus, Xuthus, and JEolus, all 
of whom emigrated and took possession of the greater part of 
Greece. Xuthus, from whom no tribe derived its name, had two 
sons, Ion and Achaeus, to whom this honour was assigned. In this 
manner Greek mythology traced the four tribes into which the 
Greek nation was divided, viz., the Dorians, lonians, Achaeans, and 
..S^olians, to four descendants of Hellen. These heroes, like Hellen 
himself, and their stories, are neither historically nor poetically true; 
the heroes are nothing but ethnic symbols and artless personifications 
to represent the whole nation and the branches into which it was 
divided ; and the story about them, in all probability, is one of those 
in which the later Greeks embodied their notions regarding the an- 
cient state of things in their country, whence it cannot be regarded 
as a genuine ancient tradition. Other more ancient and more genuine 
traditions, as those in the Homeric poems, confine Hellen and the 
Hellenes to a part of Thessaly, and do not represent them as opposed 
to or distinct from the Pelasgians, but partially connect them, as, for 
example, when Poseidon is called the father of Achaeus and Pelas- 
gus. Herodotus, so far from regarding Hellenes and Pelasgians as 
races opposed to each other, calls the Dorians a Hellenic and the 
lonians a Pelasgian people, so that the Pelasgians are drawn into the 
circle of the Hellenes. The ^olians also are called Pelasgians. All 
this justifies the conclusion that not till several centuries after the 
Trojan times, when the Greeks had become conscious of their 
national unity, did the idea of deriving their origin from one com- 
mon hero, and the several branches from his sons and grandsons, 
present itself to their minds. The reason why the Hellenes were 
privileged to give their name to the whole of Greece, is a subject 
on which we can only form conjectures. 

8. At a time considerably more remote than the Trojan war, in 
which we find the Hellenes in the north, and the Achaeans in the 
south, the Hellenes, perhaps pressed on by neighbouring barbarians, 
quitted their Thessalian homes, and gradually spread over the whole 
of Greece, subduing, by their superiority in- arms, the unwarlike 
tribes of the Pelasgians, and others with whom they came in con- 
tact. If we view the state of the country about the time of the 
Trojan war, we find in a part of Thessaly the j3iIolians, and along 
with them the Boeotians and Minyans, who were likewise iEolians; 
in another part of Thessaly, we find the Achaean Myrmidons or 
Hellenes, while other Achaeans occur in the east and south of Pelo- 
11 



122 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

ponnesus. The two races of the Achaeans and ^olians are the 
most prominent during the mythical period, while in the historical 
ages the Dorians and lonians stand forth as the most conspicuous 
branches of the Hellenic race. The Dorians, during the legendary 
period, inhabited the small country of Doris, between mount ffita 
and Parnassus, while the lonians were in possession of Attica, 
Euboea, and the north coast of Peloponnesus, which bore the nauje 
of ^gialeia. The manner in which the Hellenes became the 
masters of Greece, was not the same in all parts ; in some instances 
the conquered Pelasgians were reduced to a state of servitude, in 
others, the conquerors and the conquered became completely united; 
and it may be assumed that in these latter cases, the old Pelasgiaa 
population was numerically far superior to the conquering Hellenes. 
This would account for the lonians and ^olians being called Pelas- 
gians, while the Dorians remained Hellenes. The civilisation which 
grew out of the Hellenisation of Greece was by no means a new 
one, but rather a continuation of that already commenced by the 
Pelasgians; a fresh impulse only was given by the Hellenes, them- 
selves a branch of the Pelasgian stock, but "containing its best and 
purest blood, and destined to unfold the noblest faculties implanted 
i'n its constitution, and to raise the life of the nation to the laighest 
stage which it was capable of reaching." 

9. Such were the native elements constituting the nation of the 
Greeks. But there are also traditions stating that foreigners from 
distant countries immigrated into Greece, made its inhabitants 
acquainted with various arts and institutions of civilised life, and 
gave their names to cities and countries. The most celebrated 
among these alleged immigrants are Cecrops, reported to have come 
from Egypt, and built the Acropolis of Athens; Cadmus, the son 
of a Phoenician king, Agenor, who, when seeking his sister Europa, 
came to Boeotia, and there founded the Cadmea, the Acropolis of 
Thebes (he was also said to have introduced among the Greeks the 
arts of writing, and of melting and using metals); Danaus, who^ 
with his fifty daughter.*, is reported to have come from Egypt, fleeing 
from his brother ^gyptus ; and Pelops, lastly, a Phrygian or 
Lydian, a son of Taiitaius, acquired dominion over a large part of 
Peloponnesus, and gave his name to the periinsula. Both the 
ancients and the moderns, until recent times, believed that these 
traditions were substantially correct, and that Greece received colo- 
nists, and some important religious and social institutions, from the 
east and from Egypt. But in our own days, very few men adhere 
to this antiquated belief. According to the genuine Attic tradition, 
Cecrops, the mythical founder of the Athenian state, was no 
foreigner at all, but an Attic autochthon, and the notion of his being 
an Egyptian did not become current until the fifth century B. c. It 
originated in the v.inity of the Egyptian priests, who were anxious 



FOREIGN IMMIGRANTS. 123 

to impress upon the Greeks that their institutions were all more or 
less derived from Egypt. The story about Cadmus seems to have a 
better foundation ; not that a person of the name of Cadmus ever 
lived, or did what tradition ascribes to him; but it cannot be denied 
that in the earliest times there existed commercial relations between 
the Greeks and Phoenicians, and it is an undoubted fact that the 
Greeks derived their alphabet from the Phoenicians. The story of 
Danaus can be shown to be of genuine Greek origin, and had ori- 
ginally nothing to do with Egypt; it may be traced to the same 
source as the legend about Cecrops. The traditions about Pelops 
are very contradictory, for Homer speaks of him not as a foreign 
immigrant, but as a native prince, and others describe him as an 
Achaean. The whole legend seems to be founded upon some vague 
recollection of an ancient connection between Greece and a part of 
Asia Minor. 

10. But though we must reject these stories in the form in which 
they have been transmitted to us, we need not on this account deny 
that at some remote period adventurers, either singly or in bands, 
immigrated into Greece and took up their permanent abode there; 
we must, however, decidedly reject the idea that such adventurers 
or exiles from foreign countries exercised any appreciable influence 
upon the religious, social, or political institutions of the Greeks. 
An original connection between the eai-t and the earliest inhabitants 
of Greece is an established fact, proved by ethnology and philology; 
but the Greek language does not contain a trace of any influence 
exercised by Semitic people or by the Egyptians. In most of the 
traditions about foreign settlements in Greece, it is assumed that its 
inhabitants lived in a state of wildness, and that they received the 
first elements of civilisation from the foreign colonists ; but we have 
seen that these elements must have been known to the inhabitants 
of Greece even before their separation from their kinsmen io India 
and Italy. In matters of religion, on the other hand, it is equally 
certain that the Greeks were much indebted to eastern nations, but 
it is impossible to say how much of what they possessed in later 
times was originally the common property of all the nations belong- 
ing to the same stock, and how much was imported at a subsequent 
period, when the Pelasgians and Hellenes were already established 
in Greece. Whatever we may think of these and similar matters, 
certain it is that both the ideas and institutions which the Pelas- 
gians brought with them from Asia, as well as those which were 
subsequently imported to them from the same quarter, were ia 
Greece so much modified, and so changed in character, as to become 
something quite difi"erent. Greek civilisation forms altogether a 
striking contrast to that of oriental nations, by i:s freedom from 
priestly thraldom, and by its active intellectual development in all 
social and political relations. 



124 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

11. If we follow the <renefilogios of the princely houses in 
the Greek legends, we find that the period from the sons of Hellen 
down to the fall of Troy embraces about six generations, or two 
hundred years, from B. C. 1400 to 1200, which form what may be 
properly termed the heroic age of Greece. This period is filled 
with accounts of the exploits of the heroes for the protection of 
the helpless and oppressed, against robbers, wild beasts, and 
monsters; it abounds in stories about adventures to satisfy ambition 
and the desire to possess what was deemed most precious. To ran- 
sack and destroy inoffensive towns, to roam about the sea for 
plunder, and carry away from the coast-districts cattle and men, 
and sell the latter as slaves, were not regarded as disreputable pur- 
suits. But a right feeling of humanity, and a sense of awe 
for the gods, the avengers of all crimes, softened and subdued the 
violent passions of the Greeks of those days, who, during that 
period of chivalrous enterprise, strengthened their courage and were 
prevented by restless activity from sinking into barbarism and stolid 
inibcnsibility. To refuse protection and support to a suppliant or 
beggar, to abuse the law of hospitality, was regarded as a grave 
ofi'cnce against Zeus, the father of gods and men. Such were a 
few of the more prominent features of the Hellenes during the 
heroic period, which exhibit them in a light not unlike that of the 
chivalrous ages in the later history of Europe. Throughout that 
period the Hellenes appear as the ruling class, while the ancient 
conquered population was held in ditferent degrees of subjection 
in the several parts of Greece. 

12. None of the heroic families is more celebrated than that of 
Danaus in Argos, whose great grand-daughter Danae became, by 
Zeus, the mother of Perseus ; from this latter was descended 
Heracles, the most illustrious of all the Greek heroes, a son of Zeus 
and Alcmena, the grand-daughter of Perseus. The numerous and 
gigantic exploits ascribed to him in the legends cannot have been 
performed by one man, or even by one generation of men. They 
may be divided into two classes, the first embodying all the labours 
and toils which mankind in its infancy has to sustain against 
nature ; such are, for example, the stories of his having cleft rocks, 
turned the course of rivers, opened or stopped the subterraneous 
outlets of lakes, and cleared the land of noxious wild beasts. The 
second class of his exploits represents a state of society which is 
the natural result of the preceding one, when the ditferent tribes 
have settled in fixed abodes, and are struggling with one another 
for possession and dominion. The hero accordingly appears as the 
protector of the weak and helpless, and as the chastiser of cruel 
tyrants. In all these rich and varied traditions, Heracles represents 
and embodies the history of two distinct phases in human progress. 
The exploits ascribed to him, especially those performed in foreign 



HERACLES AND THESEUS. 125 

lands, are probably of foreign, especially Phoenician origin, for the 
Heracles of that nation was worshipped in all their settlements 
round the Mediterranean, and the stories of his wanderings and 
exploits were iucorponited by the Greeks with those of their own 
national hero. 

13. Attica had its own hero in the person of Theseus, to whom, 
likewise, exploits are ascribed which can only have been the work 
of ages. His history, though rich and varied in detail, is as fabu- 
lous as that of the kings who are said to have preceded him. He 
is described as a son of ^geus and ^thra, the daughter of a king 
of Troezen. To him are ascribed similar adventures and exploits 
as those related of Heracles, and which must therefore be viewed 
in the same light. But he is especially celebrated in Attic story 
as the hero who united the independent towns, or political com- 
munities of the country, into one state, who divided the people into 
three classes, and who laid the foundation of the political constitu- 
tion of Athens. His story is closely connected with that of another 
hero, Minos, King of Crete, who ruled over the sea by his mighty 
fleets, and levied a heavy tribute upon Athens, from which Theseus 
delivered his country by slaying the monster Minotaurus. Minos 
is, like Theseus, described as a wise, political legislator, though the 
laws commonly ascribed to him belong to a much later period, being 
the work of Dorian settlers in Crete, who did not establish them- 
selves in the island until the period between the fall of Troy and 
the occupation of Peloponnesus by the same race. 
- 14. We might here enumerate a great many other heroes and 
their exploits, such as the tragic fate of the royal house of Thebes, 
and the story of the Calydonian hunt; but we must confine our- 
selves to a notice of two celebrated expeditions to foreign lands, 
which were conducted by confederate chieftains and their followers 
— we mean the expedition of the Argonauts, and that against 
Troy. The form in which the story of the former is usually 
related runs as follows : — Shortly before the outbreak of the Trojan 
war, Jason, a Thessalian prince, excited the jealousy of his kins- 
man, Pelias of lolcos, who persuaded the prince to embark in a 
maritime expedition full of danger, in the hope that he might 
perish abroad. He was to sail to Colchis, on the eastern shore of 
the Black sea, thence to fetch the golden fleece there prepared. A 
vessel was built of unusual size, and, accomp;uiied by a band of 
the most illustrious h'Toes from various parts of Greece, Jason set 
sail. After many adventures they reached Colchis, and not only 
gained their end, but J.'son carried off" Media, the daughter of tlie 
Colchian king JEetes, through whose assistance he had obtained 
the golden fleece. The return of the heroes was connected with as 
many adventures as their voyage to Colchis. The story of which 
this is an outline, seems to be almost wholly a poetical invention : 
11* 



126 HISTORY OF QRKECE. 

the adventure is incomprehensible in its design, astonishing in its 
execution, connected with no conceivable cause, and is attended 
with no sensible effect. It is impossible to conceive whence the 
Greeks at that age could have acquired a knowledge of Colchis, and 
still more that at that early period they should have ventured on a 
maritime expedition to so distant a region. The object of the 
undertaking is still more mysterious, and can be explained only by 
conjectures. The story about the fleece itself was, that Phrixus, 
having been rescued from his father's vengeance, had been trans- 
ported by a ram across the sea to Colchis, and that on his arrival 
there he had sacrificed the ram to Zeus, and nailed the fleece to an 
oak in the grove of Ares, where it was carefully kept and guarded. 
The story about the Argonauts does not appear to have any histori- 
cal foundation, nor to be connected with commerce, piracy, or dis- 
covery, unless it be that a series of maritime enterprises have been 
combined, extended, and embellished by the poets, for an audience 
always ready to listen to accounts of distant travels and voyages. 
It is also possible that the whole story merely indicates the begin- 
nings of an intercourse between the northern Greeks and the in- 
habitants of the opposite coast of Asia ; and it was perhaps not 
without reason that some of the ancients stated that the expedition 
of the Argonauts gave rise to the second of the above-mentioned 
evpeditions, that against Troy. 

15. The Trojan war is the noblest and most celebrated of all the 
enterprises of the heroic age, and this renown it owes to the im- 
mortal poem of the Iliad, the work of Homer. The story is briefly 
this : — Aphrodite, the goddess of love, had promised to Paris, the 
son of king Priam of Troy, the most beautiful wife, because he had 
adjudged to her the prize of beauty. This wife was no other than 
Helen, the daughter of Zeus and Leda, who was then married to 
Menelaus, king of Sparta, and brother of Agamemnon, king of My- 
cenae. Paris, when on a visit to Menelaus, violated the laws of 
hospitality by carrying off Helen with many treasures; and the 
Trojans, when called upon to surrender her, refused to comply with 
the request. Such conduct called for revenge ; all the chiefs of 
Greece, looking upon the outrage as committed against them, united, 
under the supreme command of Agamemnon, for a common expe- 
dition against Troy. Although Agamemnon was the king of kings, 
swift-footed Achilles, the son of the goddess Thetis, surpassed him 
and all others in heroic courage and valour. In nearly twelve hun- 
dred ships the heroes and their followers sailed across to the coast 
of Asia, and besieged the city for a period of ten years. The Tro- 
jans, among whom Hector, a son of Priam, was the chief champion, 
defended themselves manfully, and sometimes threatened the Greeks 
with destruction. This happened during the time when Achilles 
took no part in the contest, because he thought himself wronged by 



THE TROJAN WAR. 127 

Agamemnon. The Trojans were assisted by auxiliaries from various 
parts of Asia Minor, and even from the far-distant east. The great 
gods also took part in the war, some favoui'ing the Greeks and 
others the Trojans. But in the tenth year of the contest, Troy fell 
through the well-known stratagem of the wooden horse, according 
to the common belief, in the year B. c. 1184. 

The story of the war of Troy and its conquest cannot be without 
some historical foundation, although its cause and the details related 
by the poet may be all fictitious. The Trojan war, as a general 
fact, cannot be denied. Attacks may have been repeatedly made 
upon Asia by the Hellenes for plunder, or more probably for the 
purpose of obtaining permanent settlements on the coasts, and it is 
not impossible that such expeditions may have given rise to a war 
which assumed, in the hands of poets, the form in which it has been 
handed down to us. Although Troy is said to have been destroyed 
at the end of the war, a Trojan state survived the fall of its capital, 
which was probably rebuilt, for we hear that it was destroyed a second 
time by the Phrygians, a Thracian people who entered Asia after 
the Trojan war. 

16. The return of the heroes from Troy formed a distinct circle 
of epic poetry, of which the Odyssey forms only a small part, and 
which was full of tragic and marvellous adventures. The conse- 
quences of the war were no less disastrous to the conquering heroes 
than to the vanquished, for the former found their thrones occupied 
by usurpers, or their kingdoms in a state of anarchy, and many per- 
ished on their way homewai'd. In short, all the heroes disappear 
shortly after the Trojan war, and the heroic age conies to its close; 
we have arrived at the point which forms the transition from one 
period to another entirely new and different. A second consequence 
of the war was no doubt the acquisition by the Greeks of a more 
perfect knowledge of the eastern coasts and of the islands of the 
iEgean. It is not impossible that the iEolian colonies in Asia 
Minor, which are commonly said to have been planted about one or 
two generations after the Trojan war, consisted to a great extent of 
Greeks, who never returned from the Trojan expedition, for those 
colonies claimed Agamemnon as their ancestor. Certain, however, 
it is, that the foundation of the ^olian colonies, on the north- 
western coast of Asia Minor, was the natural result of the Trojan 
war, and of the knowledge which the Greeks had acquired of those 
countries during the progress of the war. 

17. We have already spoken in general terms of the more promi- 
nent characteristic features of the heroic age. We shall now en- 
deavour to see what more we can learn from the Homeric poemi 
about the government, social conditiun, religion, and arts during 
the same period ; for it must be remembered that on these subjects 
the Iliad and Odyssey contain information as trustworthy as if they 



128 HISTORY OP GREECE. 

were historical doc-uments. Plavcry existed in most parts of Greece j 
slaves were chiefly employed in domestic service about their mas- 
ters and mistresses, in gardening, and attending to the flocks and 
cattle. They were nearly in all cases persons taken pi'isoners in war 
or bought of pirates, or the children of such persons born and bred 
in the house of their master. We never hear of a whole population 
having been reduced to slavery by conquerors. Husbandry was 
carried on by freemen who served the wealthy landowners for hire. 
These latter formed a higher order, distinguished by birth, and 
generally by valour, wisdom, and a love of adventure. They were 
the nobles or the chiefs of the nation — one among whom was the 
head of all, and bore the title of king, for the kingly form of gov- 
ernment was universally established in Greece during the heroic 
period ; but the king was only the first among his equals, who assisted 
him with their counsel. The people in every Greek state were 
divided into gene or clans, which were bound together by certain 
religious observances. Laws, in our sense of the term, did not 
exist — all rights and duties being fixed by ancient usage, and con- 
firmed by successive precedents. The whole nation consisted of 
several tribes and numerous little independent states, and the legend 
of the Trojan war presents to us the first instance of a united 
national enterprise. The name Hellenes does not yet occur as a 
general designation of all the Greeks, who are generally called 
Achaei, Danai, or Argives. 

18. The social relations in the heroic age were extremely simple. 
The conduct of women was under less restraint than at a later 
period, and maidens of the highest rank had to perform the ordi- 
nary domestic duties, down to fetching water and washing. A 
father had the absolute right of disposing of his daughter's hand, 
and at the marriage both parties made presents to each other. 
Many of the female characters in the Homeric poems command our 
respect and admiration, and are among the noblest conceptions of 
the poet, though we can hardly imagine that they are types of the 
whole sex at the time. The food of the Greeks, as at all subse- 
quent times, was of the simplest kind, but singing and dancing 
■were among the favourite amusements and ornaments of their social 
gatherings. Excessive drinking is hardly ever mentioned. To- 
wards their inferiors the Greeks were kind and amiable, and their 
severity towards slaves was never wanton. In war, however, quarter 
was not given, unless it were to obtain a large ransom, and acts of 
ferocious cruelty were often indulged in. Great care, however, was 
taken to secure an honourable burial for the slain. Conquered 
cities were generally treated with merciless cruelty, the men being 
put to death, and women and children distributed among the con- 
querors as slaves. 

19. The religion of the heroic age was only a further development 



STATE OF THE ARTS. 129 

of that of the Pelasgians, and not essentially different from that 
which we find established during the historical ages. The Greek 
strongly sympathised with the outward world, and in all the objects 
arouud him be found life, or imparted it to them from the fulness 
of his own imagination. Every parUof nature roused in him a dis- 
tinct sentiment of religious awe, and everywhere he found divine 
powers to worship. The complicated system of mythology which 
arose out of this simple worship of the powers of nature, was formed 
partly by a process of personification, and partly by raising the local 
divinities of certain tribes to the rank of national gods, by connect- 
ing and uniting them into one great family. These processes were 
the work of the national mind of the Greeks, strengthened and 
guided by the poets. Each tribe and city, however, continued to 
worship one or more deities as its special patrons or protectors. All 
the gods were conceived as beings with human forms, and as subject 
to the same passions and frailties as mortals ; but they were never- 
theless believed to punish men for their off"ences, both in this world 
and in their future state. Prayers and sacrifices were employed to 
obtain their favour, and the more precious the offering was, the more 
pleasing it was thought to be to the deity. Hence the sacrifice of 
human life was the highest oblation. The gods were represented in 
statues and symbols, but we must not believe that these statues or 
symbols themselves were worshipped as the divine beings; such 
gross idolatry seems to have arisen only in later times, when the 
symbol was confounded with the power symbolised. The functions 
of the priests, both male and female, who were generally connected 
with the worship of some particular divinity, consisted mainly in 
offering sacrifices, though the kings and fathers of families might 
do the same on behalf of those whom they represented. The most 
important branch, however, of a priest's duties, consisted in his 
ascertaining the will of the gods, and those occurrences of the 
future which the faculties of man were unable to divine. The 
belief in the possibility of obtaining such knowledge gave rise to 
oracular places, the most renowned of which were Dodona and 
Delphi ; but many other methods also were resorted to, to discover 
the will of the gods or the decrees of destiny. The awe and reve- 
rence for departed great men gradually led to hero-worship, which, 
common as it was in later times, is never alluded to in the Homeric 
poems. 

20. In regard to the knowledge possessed by the Greeks during 
the heroic age, and the arts they cultivated, we find that their geo- 
graphical information was almost confined to Greece, the islands of 
the iEgean, and the north-western parts of Asia Minor; all the 
rest of the ancient world was known only from vague rumours and 
reports, whence the poet's descriptions of foreign lands are full of 
most marvellous circumstances. The whole earth is conceived as a 



130 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

plane surface, surrounded by the river Oceanus ; the Mediterranean 
was only a depression of the earth's surface, the central point of 
wbich w.is Delphi. A vast pit in the earth, called Hades, was the 
receptacle of the departed spirits, and far below the earth lay the 
still more dismal pit of Tartarus. Mount Olympus, in Tbessaly, 
was regarded as the highest mountain on earth, and as the habita- 
tion of the gods ; and the vault of heaven was considered to be a 
solid vault of metal, supported by Atlas, who kept asunder heaven 
and earth. 

Navigation was still in its infancy, and consisted mainly in coast- 
ing or sailing from island to island. The largest ships which sailed 
against Troy, are said to have carried one hundred and twenty men, 
though probably they did not really contain more than fifty. En- 
gagements at sea are never mentioned. Astronomy as a science can 
hardly be said to have existed. All the Greeks, down to the time 
of Solon, divided the year into twelve lunar months, the defects of 
which were remedied by occasional intercalations. Commerce was 
indeed carried on, but was not held in great esteem by a nation 
which regarded the pursuit of war as more honourable, and piracy 
as more lucrative. Money is not mentioned by the poet, so that all 
commerce must have been carried on by barter. The wealthy heroes 
appear to have lived not only in rude plenty, but in a high degree 
of luxury and splendour; but we must remember that the poet, in 
descriptions of this kind, was not obliged always to adhere strictly 
to the real state of things. The arts amongst the Greeks, if com- 
pared with those of eastern nations, can scarcely be said to have 
advanced beyond a state of infancy. 

The art of war was in a similar condition. In the Iliad we hear 
much of the combats of chiefs, but little or nothing of engagements 
of the masses ; and the contests are decided by the valour of indi- 
vidual heroes, or by the interposition of the gods. The art of 
besieging a town seems to have been utterly unknown. 

21. Although the poems bearing the name of Homer are the 
most ancient in European literature, yet they are by no means the 
first attempts that were made' in poetry. The Homeric poems 
themselves furnish evidence of its having been cultivated before the 
Iliad and Odyssey were composed. The poet or minstrel, in the 
heroic age, was held in the highest honour by the chiefs and heroes; 
his presence was welcomed at all their feasts as that of a divinely 
inspired personage, for it was the poet who exalted and embellished 
the exploits of the heroes, whose deeds formed his principal themes. 
Another kind of poetry consisted of religious hymns to soothe the 
anger or win the favour of the gods. Music was always, and danc- 
ing occasionally, united with the recital of poetry. In connection 
with this early poetry, we must consider the art of writing which 
had been introduced among the Greeks at an early period by the 



THE DORIC STATES. 131 

Phoenicians. Homer himself does not distinctly allude to it in 
any part of his poems, thoiish it ought not to be inferred from this 
that it was unknown in his time. As to whether the Homeric 
poems were originally composed in writing, is a question which has 
been much discussed in modern times, though it is highly probable 
that at first they were not committed to writing, but composed by 
the poet, and retained in his memory, and that for a considerable 
time they were propagated only by oral tradition. No one now 
doubts that the Iliad is substantially the work of one genius; but 
it is more doubtful as to whether both the Iliad and the Odyssey 
are the productions of the same poet. The time in which Homer 
himself is believed to have lived, is separated by several genera- 
tions from the Trojan war. Hesiod, some of whose productions 
have come down to our time, is a poet of a somewhat later period 
than Homer. 



CHAPTER III. 

HISTORY OF THE DORIC STATES FROM THE RETURN OF THE 
HERACLEIDS, DOWN TO THE END OF THE SECOND MESSENIAN 
WAR. 

1. About sixty years after the fall of Troy, during which period 
no change is recorded in the history of Greece, great commotions 
arose in the country in consequence of immigrations from the north. 
The first of these is the immigration of the Thessalians from Epirus 
into the country afterwards called Thessaly, in consequence of 
which the original inhabitants, as the Boeotians and Achaeans, 
were partly reduced to a state of servitude, and partly compelled to 
emigrate. The Boeotians took forcible possession of the country, 
subsequently called after them Boeotia. Here again the Cadmeans 
and Minyans being driven from their homes, and joined by Achae- 
ans from Peloponnesus, are said to have crossed the ^gean, and 
established in the north-west of Asia Minor the settlements known 
'under the name of the ^olian colonies. But it has already been 
remarked (p. 127) that these colonies probably were in a closer con- 
nection with the expedition against Troy than this tradition seems 
to indicate. 

A much more important movement was that occasioned by the 
migration of the Dorians from their little country on the north of 
mount Parnassus to Peloponnesus, of which they conquered the 
fairest provinces. The fact of this migration, which is generally 



132 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

assigned to the year b. c. 1104, cannot be doubted, although there 
are questions connected with it which cannot be answered in a 
satisfactory manner. First of all, it is hardly conceivable that the 
little country afterwards known by the name of Doris should have 
sent forth bands conquering nearly the whole of Peloponnesus, 
although we may admit that the concjuerors in this, as in many 
other cases were far less numerous than the conquered. Secondly, 
the manner in which the descendants of Heracles are mixed up 
with the migration is altogether fjibulous. The consequence of 
tbis migration however was, that the population of the peninsula 
changed its character ; the hardy Dorians either crushed the original 
inhabitants and reduced them to a state of servitude, or expelled 
them and forced them to seek new homes in foreign lands. The 
mountainous country of Arcadia, inhabited from time immemorial 
by Pelasgians, remained free, though its population, being sur- 
rounded on all sides by Dorian Hellenes, gradually lost their primi- 
tive character, and became Hellenes. The cause of the migration 
was intimately connected in the tradition with the story about the 
descendants of Heracles. They had, it is said, a legitimate claim 
to the succession to the throne of Argos, and made repeated attempts 
by force of arms to gain possession of it, until at length the three 
brothers Aristodemus, Temeuus, and Cresphontes, supported by 
Dorians, j$]tolians, and Locrians, crossed the entrance of the Corin- 
thian gulf at Naupactus, and having conquered Tisamenus, a grand- 
son of Agamemnon, divided the best portions of Peloponnesus among 
themselves. 

2. Oxylus, an ^^jtolian chief who had guided the invaders, claimed 
and obtained as his share in the conquest the fertile country of 
Ellis, which he is said to have governed wisely and mildly, taking 
only a portion of the land for his followers, and leaving the re- 
mainder in the hands of the original inhabitants. Tisamenus, with 
many of his Achaean followers, attempted to obtain peaceful settle- 
ments among the lonians on the north coast of Peloponnesus, but 
failing in this, he overcame them in a battle, and forced them to 
quit their country. Ionia henceforth bore the name of Achaia, and 
the exiled lonians found refuge among their kinsmen in Attica; 
but as that country was too small, the lonians, accompanied by 
numerous other adventurers, emigrated to the western coast of 
Asia Minor, where they founded what are called the Ionian colonies. 
In the meantime the Heracleid chiefs were engaged in dividing the 
conquest among themselves. Eurysthenes and Proclcs, the twin- 
sons of Aristodemus, obtained Lacouia, Temenus, Argos, and Cres- 
phontes Messenia. The conquest thus described in the traditions 
cannot possibly have been accomplished at once, or even within a 
short period. It is well known that Argos was not conquered until 
after a long protracted war. Pylos, in Messenia, even after the 



PELOPONNESUS CONQUERED BY THE DORIANS. 133 

conquest of the rest of the country, was for centuries ruled by the 
descendants of its ancient king Neleus. In Laconia the Dorian 
conquerors are said to have met with little resistance. Eurysthenes 
and Procles, who fixed their residence at Sparta, are reported to 
have allowed the conquered Achaeans the same ri2;hts as the con- 
quering Dorians; but Agis, the successor of Eurysthenes, reduced 
the Achaeans to the condition of subjects, and all yielded except 
the inhabitants of the town of Helos, who, however, were compelled 
to submit, and lost not only their political independence, but their 
personal liberty, giving rise and name to the class of serfs called 
Helots. In this story also the vanity of the conquerors is but too 
apparent, and we know on very good authority that Amyclae, which 
is said to have capitulated at once, remained an independent little 
state in Laconia for a period of nearly three hundred years. Helos 
seems to have maintained its independence even later, and it is in 
short more than probable that the Dorians in Laconia as well as 
elsewhere had to struggle for a long period before they were com- 
plete masters of the countries once occupied by the Achaeans. A 
little later than the invasion of Peloponnesus, Corinth also was 
conquered by a Heracleid of the name of Aletes accompanied by 
Dorian adventurers, and the race of Sisyphus was dethroned. This 
event brought the conquering Dorians into conflict with Attica, 
which was then governed by Codrus, a son of jMelanthus. The 
Dorians, in consequence of the wars and their devastations, it is 
said, suifering from scarcity in their newly conquered countries, 
resolved upon invading Attica, under the leadership of Aletes of 
Corinth. Accordingly they encamped in Attica, and the oracle of 
Delphi had promised them success, provided they spared the life of 
the Athenian king. This oracle had become known to the Athe- 
nians, and their king resolved to sacrifice himself for his country. 
Disguised in a woodman's garb, he went among the Dorians and 
killed one with his bill, whereupon he himself was slain by another. 
When the Dorians discovered what had taken place, they despaired 
of success, and withdrew their forces from Attica. 

3. About the same time Megara, which had until then belonged 
to x\ttica, was separated from it, being occupied by a Dorian colony 
from Corinth, by which it was afterwards held in subjection, ^gina 
was likewise seized by Dorians from Epidaurus. But by far the 
most important Dorian colonies were those established in Crete 
during the third generation after the conquest of Peloponnesus. 
These colonies were founded by Dorians from Sparta and Argos, 
who during the broils and conflicts in Peloponnesus were induced 
to seek new homes elsewhere. Some of these emigi'ants, who can- 
not have been very numerous, established themselves in Rhodes, 
which henceforth became a Dorian island. The conquest of Crete 
is said to have been a matter of little difficulty, as the island had 
12 



134 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

been desolated by pestilence and famine; but it must nevertlielcs? 
have taken some time before the Dorians became complete masters 
of it. The political institutions of Crete, greatly resembling those 
of Sparta, are said by some to have been introduced into the latter 
city from the island, while others maintain that the Cretan towns 
derived them from Sparta. The real truth, however, seems to be 
that neither place derived them from the other, but that they were 
the common institutions of the Doric race, which carried them with 
it wherever it formed settlements, though we do not deny that some 
of those institutions may have existed in Crete ever since the time 
of king Minos, to whom the Dorians of Crete were inclined to 
trace them, for the purpose of making them appear more ancient 
and venerable. All the inhabitants of Crete were divided into 
three classes, freemen, slaves, and perioeci, the last of whom pro- 
bably were the ancient proprietors of the soil, but were compelled 
to live in open towns and villages, and had to pay a certain tax to 
their Doric rulers, though they were personally free. The govern- 
ment, the administration, and the making of the laws, were in the 
hands of the Doric freemen, who also reserved other rights and 
privileges for themselves, though their rule does not appear to have 
been very oppressive. The slaves were either persons who had for- 
cibly resisted the invaders, or such as had been slaves before. The 
land was partly left to its former owners, and partly taken possession 
of by the new colonists ; but besides these portions, each state set 
apart a domain for itself which was cultivated by public slaves. All 
the land was tilled by the perioeci and slaves, while the Dorians 
knew no other pursuits but those of war, and lived by the toil of 
their subjects and slaves. The form of government was nearly the 
same in all the Doric colonies of Crete, which shows that it had a 
national character, and was not the result of accident. Kings are 
not mentioned, but their place was supplied by ten annual magis- 
trates bearing the title of cosmoi, who were elected from among the 
most illustrious families by the body of free citizens. At the end 
of their year of office, the cosmoi might be elected into the senate, 
called geronia or bule, of which they remained members for life. 
Tlie number of senators in each state seems to have been thirty. 
This constitution was evidently thoroughly aristocratic. The 
assembly of the people, consisting of the free Doric citizens, might 
be convened by the magistrates whenever they thought it advisable, 
but its members seem to have had little power beyond giving their 
assent to the measures brought before them. 

4. The most striking feature in the Cretan mode of life, though 
this too they had in common with most other Doric states, was tlie 
custom according to which all the citizens, old and young, took 
their meals together at public tables and at the expense of the state. 
These public meals, which were elsewhere called syssitia, bore in 



LYCURGUS. 135 

Crete the name of andreia or andria. They kept up amonp; the 
ruling chiss a feeling of unity and of superiority over their subjects, 
and bound together the citizens by close intimacy, while the young 
had opportunities of listening to the opinions and views of the older 
men. Besides this, however, the conduct of boys and youths was 
strictly watched by persons appointed for the purpose. Their train- 
ing and education were conducted with the same severity and harsh- 
ness as at Sparta. Institutions like these occur more or less in all 
the Doric states of Greece, a fact which shows incontrovertibly that 
they were not the work of any particular lawgiver, but the natural 
results of the character of the Doric race. 

5. Although the history of the Doric states of Peloponnesus 
during the first centuries after their formation is extremely obscure, 
yet it is evident that Sparta was the chief among them, and that 
the Doric institutions there were more fully developed than in any 
other state. These circumstances, and the conquest of Messenia by 
Sparta, raised her in the course of time to the supremacy not only 
of Peloponnesus but of Greece, and the greatness and glory she thus 
acquired have shed a lustre over her whole history which in many 
respects is not well deserved. The constitution of Sparta is generally 
ascribed to Lycurgus, who is believed either to have devised it, or at 
least to have introduced it among his countrymen. But if we look 
to the nature of the Spartan institutions, and compare them with 
those of other Doric states, it becomes highly probable that they 
cannot have been the work of one particular mind, but that the 
ground-work at least was common to all the Dorians, so that Lycur- 
gus, if he ever existed, cannot have done much more than systema- 
tise and supplement that which he already found in operation. The 
mythical character of the history of this renowned lawgiver is fur- 
ther confirmed by the different statements about his descent and the 
time when he flourished, for while some regard him as a contempo- 
rary of the Heracleid conquerors, others place him more than two 
hundred years later, that is, about B. c. 884. Sparta was governed 
by two kings descended from Aristodemus, whose two sons, Eurys- 
thenes and Procles, ruled the kingdom in common, and Lycurgus 
was generally believed to have been connected with one of these 
royal houses. By an act of justice and generosity he secured the 
succession to a posthumous son of his brother; and as this involved 
him in unpleasantries with the infant's mother, who wished to marry 
him, he left his country and spent the best part of his life in foreign 
lands, though his countrymen often invited him to return. He is 
said to have gathered information in the most distant countries, and 
on his return he found Lacedaemon in a state of anarchy and poli- 
tical dissolution. The need of reform was generally felt, and having 
secured the favour of a large body of the leading men at Sparta, and 
been declared by the Delphic oracle to be wiser than ordinary mor- 



136 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

tals, he successively procured the enactment of a series of ordi- 
nances, by which the civil and niilitnry constitution of the state, the 
distribution of property, the education of the citizens, and the regu- 
lation of their daily life and intercourse, were fixed as on a sacred, 
and immutable basis. Haviag accomplished his great work in spite 
of violent opposition, he went to Delphi, having previously bound 
his fellow citizens by a solemn oath to make no change in his laws 
until his return. The lawgiver himself, however, never returned, 
and an oracle was transmitted to Sparta declaring that she should 
flourish as long as she observed his laws. When, where, and how 
he died was never known, but the Spartans honoured him as a god 
with a temple and annual sacrifices. 

6. This story about the famous Spartan lawgiver was believed by 
nearly all the ancients, and one fact seems to be clear from their 
concurrent testimony, that the legislation, which is described as the 
work of Lycurgus, delivered Sparta from anarchy and the evils of 
misrule, and that it formed the commencement of a long period of 
tranquillity and order. The reforms which were introduced affected 
the whole country of Laconia, and the private as well as the public 
life of its inhabitants. The great object of the legislator seems to 
have been to maintain the sovereignty of Sparta over the rest of 
Laconia, and to unite the Spartans among themselves by the closest 
ties. The ancient usages and customs now assumed the character 
of strict law, sanctioned and hallowed by religion. In order to gain 
a basis for his new regulations, the lawgiver is said to have made 
an entirely new division of all the landed property in Laconia, thus 
removing the causes of discord, and facilitating the reform of 
abuses, which feuds and quarrels among the Doric rulers them- 
selves seem to have produced. 

7. Lycurgus, then, is said first of all to have divided Laconia, so 
fiir as it was then subject to Sparta, into thirty-nine thousand lots, 
of which nine thousand were assigned to Spartan families, and thirty 
thousand to the free Laconian subjects. As it is scarcely possible 
to conceive the existence of so many Spartan and Laconian families, 
we are perhaps justified in preferring another account, which speaks 
of only four thousand lots assigned to the Spartans by Lycurgus, 
and mentions that this number was doubled after the conquest of 
Messenia. There can be no doubt that in this distribution the ruling 
Spartans selected for themselves the most fertile and valuable por- 
tions of the country, to maintain their families and their numerous 
slaves. Some parts of the land, however, remained the property 
of the state, being its domain, while others continued, as before, to 
be the property of temples. How far these agrarian regulations 
were new, and how far the legislator only fixed by law what had 
been long established by custom, cannot be ascertained. 

8. All the inhabitants of Laconia were divided into three ranks 



SPARTAN CONSTITUTION. 137 

or classes. — 1. The Dorians of Sparta; 2. The serfs or Helots; 
and 3. The subject people of Lacunia. The last were chiefly 
Achaeans, that is, the ancient inhabitants of the country, inter- 
mixed with strangers that had accompanied the Dorians at the 
time of the invasion. For the purpose of weakening them, the 
Spartans dispersed them over the country in open towns and vil- 
lages. The ruling Dorians of Sparta always looked upon them with 
jealousy and a degree of fear. These Laeonians had no political 
rights, but had to bear the heaviest public burdens, and to fight 
the battles, the main object of which was to gratify the pride and 
ambition of their rulers. Personally, however, they were free, and 
enjoyed the undivided possession of the trade and manufactures of 
the country • for the higher as well as the lower arts were looked 
upon as degrading to a Spartan. The Helots or serfs were pro- 
bably the descendants of those Achaeans who, in consequence of 
their obstinate resistance to the invading Dorians, had been reduced 
to slavery. Their condition was most wretched; they were always 
feared and suspected by their masters, and atrocious violence was 
often resorted to, to reduce their strength or break their spirit. 
They were bound to the soil, and could not be torn from it, oi sold 
into another country; some were employed in domestic, and others 
in public works ; by zeal and industry, however, they might obtain 
their freedom. When a Spartan went out as a soldier in time of 
war, he was always attended by a number of Helnts, who then had 
an opportunity of enriching themselves by the spoil. These advan- 
tages, however, which the Spartan slaves had in common with 
those of all other ancient nations, were more than counterbalanced 
by the inhuman cruelty with which they were treated by their 
masters; and on one occasion two thousand of them were murdered 
for no other reason than because they were brave men. It would 
seem also that in later times the condition of the Helots became 
worse than it had been originally. No wonder, therefore, that 
their masters lived in perpetual fear of them. The Spartans, that 
is, the ruling body of Heracleid and Doric conquerors, were entirely 
dependent upon their slaves, who cultivated their lands, and at- 
tended on them in time of war and during their stay at home ; the 
Helot had to work and toil for his master, without ever enjoying 
the results of his labours. The ruling body of the Spartans had 
all equal rights, and formed a class like tlie Roman patricians, 
resembling, in many points, a modern aristocracy. They were the 
only real citizens of the state, all the rest being subjects and slaves. 
The Dorians at Sparta, as everywhere else, were divided into three 
tribes, just as the lonians always formed four; their names at Snarta 
were Hylleans, Dymanes, and Pamphylians, and these three tribes 
were subdivided into thirty obae. It is not known whether the 
Hylleans, who claimed to be descended from Heracles, and to whom 
12 * 



138 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

the royal families belonged, had any privileges not shared by the 
two other tribes. 

0. As all free Spartans, except the two kings, had equal rights, 
their constitution may be called a democracy, with two hereditary 
magistrates at its head ; but in relation to the Laconians scattered 
over the country, it was a rigid aristocracy, which clung to the 
ancient forms of the constitution even at a time when its spirit had 
completely departed. The spirit of the Spartans was eminently 
conservative, so that in later times their constitution was in constant 
antagonism to the spirit of the age, which required reforms and 
improvements. The men who saw the evil and attempted reforms 
fell victims to their endeavours. The sovereign power at Sparta, as 
in all other ancient republics, resided in the assembly of the citi- 
zens, which was convened by the magistrates at stated periods, but 
could only accept or reject the measures brought before it — all 
discussion as well as the proposing of amendments being confined to 
persons in office. Such assemblies were no part of the legislation 
of Lycurgus, any more than the existence of a senate or council of 
elders, called gerusia, but had existed from time immemorial, and 
probably all that the lawgiver did, was to regulate and organise that 
which had existed as an ancient usage. The senate consisted of 
twenty-eight members, or, including the two kings, thirty, each 
representing one of the thirty obae. They were elected by the 
kings, without regard to anything except age and personal merit, 
and no one could become a member of the gerusia before he had 
completed his sixtieth year; but then they held their office for life. 
They had to prepare the measures that were brought before the 
assembly of the citizens, and in early times their authority must 
have been more extensive than afterwards, for the two kings had in 
the gerusia no more power than any other senator ; but in later 
times, when part of their functions were assumed by the ephors, who 
bear some resemblance to the Roman tribunes of the plebs, the influ- 
ence of both the senate and the kings was reduced to comparative 
insignificance. 

10. It is remarkable that while the kingly dignity was abolished 
in all other parts of Greece, it was maintained at Sparta almost as 
long as it formed an independent state. Its powers, however, were 
in the course of time considerably reduced by the institution of 
the ephorate. The chief functions of the kings were to command 
the armies, of which they seem originally to have had the uncon- 
trolled direction ; besides this, they were the high priests of the 
nation, more especially priests of Zeus, and had a kind of jurisdic- 
tion which was afterwards greatly limited. However, although 
the power of the kings was not very great, the honours attached 
to their station were by no means insignificant, for they were 
revered as the chief magistrates and as connected with the gods 



SPARTAN INSTITUTIONS. 139 

by their descent ; and besides possessing extensive demesnes in 
various parts of the country, they received certain payments in 
kind which enabled them to maintain their household and to exer- 
cise great hospitality. The time when ephors were appointed is 
uncertain, some assigning the institution to Lycurgus and others to 
a later period, though the probability is that they too were an 
ancient Doric magistracy which had existed long before the time of 
the lawgiver. They were five in number, and were elected annually. 
They exercised from the first a kind of superintendence and juris- 
diction over the civil affairs of the Spartans; but their political 
importance belongs to a later period. 

11. The principle pervading the whole Spartan constitution was 
that a citizen was born and lived only for the state, that his sub- 
stance, time, strength, fiiculties, and affections, were to be dedicated 
to its service, and that its welfare and glory should be his happiness 
and honour; and this principle was the necessary result of the cir- 
cumstances under which a handfull of Dorians had become masters 
of a country with a population far more numerous than themselves. 
As the Spartans were a close aristocracy, their numbers continually 
decreased, and as their property could not be sold, but always 
descended to the eldest son, or in default of a male heir to the 
eldest daughter, the landed estates in the end accumulated in the 
hands of a few immensely wealthy proprietors, while a great many 
persons lived in extreme poverty. Money was not coined at Sparta 
even at the time when all the other Greek states had long adopted 
it as a convenience; the possession of precious metals was forbidden 
as dangerous, and bars or pieces of iron continued to be the only 
legal currency at Sparta down to the latest times. This prohibition 
of the precious metals, however, applied to the Spartans only, the 
Laconians not being affected by it, for they were free in their com- 
mercial dealings with other states. A regulation like this is always 
sure to defeat its own ends, and the Spartans in later times were 
notorious ^bove all other Greeks for their avarice. The women, the 
mothers of the brave warriors, were m^^ch more respected and 
honoured at Sparta than in other parts of Greece, and some of 
them have acquired a renown in history which is scarcely inferior 
to that of the noblest Roman matrons. The education of young 
men for the service of the state was conducted with particular care. 
Its sphere was very narrow, for all that was aimed at was to train 
men who were to live in the midst of difficulty and danger, and 
who should be equally ready to command and to obey ; the cultiva- 
tion of the intellect and the feelings was totally neglected. Sickly 
or deformed infants were exposed in a glen of mount Taygetus. 
Warlike poetry and music, however, were much enjoyed by the 
Spartans, whence the Iliad became very popular among them at an 
early period, and Tyrtaeus was held in high honour The other 



140 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

amusements of the Spartans, young and old, were tlie palaestra or 
gymnastic exercises and the chase. They were soldiers from the 
age of maturity down to their sixtieth year. 

12. All the institutions of Sparta were of a one-sided character, 
and the unlimited admiration bestowed upon them by both ancient 
and modern writers has in our time given way to a more correct 
estimate. In all their movements, the Spartans were cautious and 
slow; war was their element, and this spirit was maintained by their 
ancient system of tactics. The main strength of the army con- 
sisted in its heavy-armed infantry, the only mode of service which 
was thought worthy of a free Spartan. The cavalry never acquired 
any great efl&ciency at Sparta. The Helots formed the light infan- 
try. Sparta, moreover, was never distinguished for its navy; its 
great strength always lay in its land force. 

13. It was not till about a century after the time in which Lycur- 
gus is commonly said to have lived, that all Laconia was subdued by 
its Dorian conquerors, and in the enjoyment of a period of repose. 
The ins.titutions of Lycurgus made the Spartans strong and united; 
and having for centuries been accustomed to war with the ancient 
Achaean population of the country, they seem now to have been 
impatient for fresh enterprises. Jealousy appears to have sprung 
up between Argos and Sparta about the possession of the eastern 
coast of Laconia, which had oi'iginally belonged to Argos. Of this 
district the Spartans made themselves masters; and the result was 
a series of hostilities, in the course of which attempts were also 
made to conquer Tegea in Arcadia; they were often renewed, but 
always failed. 

14. An easier and more inviting conquest offered itself in the 
west. It was probably not without jealousy and envy that the 
Dorians of Laconia observed that Messenia was a much fairer and 
more fertile country than their own, and a pretext for war was easily 
found. The Dorians in Messenia, moreover, had acted very diife- 
rently towards the Achaean population, which, having submitted to 
the invaders without much resistance, had been treated with mode- 
ration and mildness by the conquerors. The first Dorian king, 
Cresphontes, is even said to have formed plans for uniting the 
Dorians and Achaeans into one people. The jealousy of his Dorian 
subjects, indeed, thwarted this scheme; but it was taken up again 
by his son ^gyptus, and carried. His successors followed the same 
policy, and the cou.ntry prospered, and the arts of peace flourished 
under it. The arts of war were probably not so much cultivated 
there as at Sparta, and this may have been another reason why the 
Spartans tliought it an easy matter to conquer their neighbours. 
■Such temptations rendered it easy for them to find a pretext for war. 

15. Irritations and provocations are said to have occurred at 
difi"erent times; but the event which finally led to the outbreak of 



riRST MESSENIAN WAR. 141 

war, was a private wrong committed by a Spartan against a Messe- 
nian. The result was, that in B. c. 743 the Spartans bound them- 
selves by an oath not to cease warring against Messenia until the 
country should be made theirs by the ri<;ht of conquest; and soon 
afterwards they invaded it, massacred the defenceless inhabitants, 
and established themselves in the fortified town of Amphea. Thus 
commenced the first Messenian war, which lasted from B. c. 743 to 
724. The accounts which we have of it, as well as those of the 
second war, are little more than poetical lays or popular traditions. 
After the lapse of several years, during which the Spartans had 
constantly made ravaging excursions from Amphea, and the Messe- 
nians had suffered severely, the latter fortified themselves in the 
stronghold on mount Ithome. Victory was promised by an oracle 
to the Messenians, on condition of a pare virgin being sacrificed to 
the infernal gods ; and when it became known to the Spartans that 
the sacrifice had been made, they were discouraged, until after 
several years their king, Theopompus, again led an army into the 
country, and fought a battle. The Messenian king was slain, and 
was succeeded by Aristodemus, whose daughter had been sacrificed 
for her country. He won the hearts of the people, governed them 
wisely, and formed an alliance with the Arcadians. The war con- 
tinued in the form of petty inroads and ravages, which were renewed 
every year at the harvest season, and it was not till the fifth year of 
the reign of Ai'istodemus, that a pitched battle was fought at the 
foot of mount Ithome, in which the Spartans and their allies were 
defeated. But various oracles and successful stratagems of the 
Spartans, in the end reduced Aristodemus to despair, in which he 
made away with himself. The Messenians, upon this untoward 
event, lost their hopes, but not their courage. Damis, their com- 
mander, once more made a vigorous sally from Ithome ; but when 
the bravest leaders had fallen, the people fled from the fortress, 
leaving their rich fields in the possession of the conquerors, and the 
war was at an end. 

16. After this catastrophe, the main body of the Messenians 
dispersed from Ithome to their own homes, but many took refuge 
in foreign lands. Ithome was razed to the ground ; and the Spar- 
tans, after taking all the other Messenian towns, disposed of the 
country at their pleasm-e. The Messenians who remained in their 
native land were reduced to the condition of serfs, and, like the 
Helots, had to pay to their masters half the produce of their fields ; 
and the remaining portions of the land were distributed among the 
Spartans, or perhaps to the offspring of mixed marriages between 
Spartans and Laconians, who did not enjoy the full franchise, and 
were for this reason induced in b. c. 708 to quit Greece, and found 
a new home for themselves at Tarentum, in the south of Italy. 
It would seem that to this period also belongs the extension of 



142 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

the powers of the ephors, who arc commonly said to have been in- 
stituted by king Theopompus. Their superintendence of the execu- 
tion of the laws must have brought them into frequent collision 
with the kings ; and a dexterous and enterprising ephnr might by 
this means easily raise his power above that of the kings themselves. 
In later times, the ephors also had the power of convoking the 
assembly of the people, of laying measui'es before it, and of acting 
in its name. By this means they easily rose above all other magis- 
trates, and exercised a power at Sparta not unlike that of the ple- 
beian tribunes at Rome. 

17. During the first Messenian war, Argos, probably under its 
distinguished king Pheidon, had recovered the eastern coast of La- 
conia as far as cape Malea, and even conquered the island of Oy- 
thera. It seems at that time to have been a great power, but after 
Pheidon's death all was lost again, and Sparta ruled over the south 
of Peloponnesus from sea to sea. Caranus, a brother of Pheidon, is 
said to have emigrated, and to have founded the dynasty of the 
kingdom of Macedonia in the north. Sparta, however, was not to 
enjoy her conquests undisturbed. The subjugated Messenians, and 
still more their exiled countrymen, burned with indignation against 
their oppressors. Aristoraenes, a Messenian of noble descent and 
surpassing valour, cheered on his countrymen and roused them into 
action ; alliances also were formed with Argos, Arcadia, and even 
with p]lis, and in B. C. 685 the Messenians took up arms to shake oif 
the yoke. The accounts of this war, which lasted till B. c. 668, are 
still more mythical or fabulous than those of the first, though the 
fact of the war itself is beyond all doubt. Aristomenes, it is said, 
rallied his countrymen in the mountainous districts. A great battle 
was fought before any assistance could come from Sparta ; the vic- 
tory was not decisive, but the Spartans were terror-struck by the 
unexpected insurrection, and the Messenians conceived fresh hopes. 
Aristomenes, who refused the profiered crown, is reported one night 
to have boldly entered the city of Sparta, and to have dedicated a 
trophy in the temple of Athena. The Spartans were advised by the 
god of Delphi to seek an Athenian counsellor; and the Attic town 
of Aphidnae sent Tyrtaeus, a martial poet, to their aid. They also 
received auxiliaries from Corinth and other places, while the Mes- 
senians were supported by their exiled countrymen, and cheered on 
by the soothsayer Theocles. Near Stenycleros a great battle was 
fought, in which the Spartans were routed, so that for a time Mes- 
senia was freed from her enemies. After a while, however, Aris- 
tomenes again took up the offensive, ravaged the towns and villages 
of Laconia, and was stopped in his progress only by an accidental 
wound. In the third year Sparta again prepared fur battle, in 
which, assisted by the treachery of the Arcadians, she gained a vic- 
tory. Aristomenes, nothing daunted, assembled his countrymen on 



SECOND MESSENIAN WAR. 143 

mount Eira, where they fortified themselves, and were besieged by 
the enemy. Aristomenes maintained himself by frequent sallies, 
and the Spartans, in order to prevent his obtaining supplies for his 
men, laid waste the surrounding country. 

18. But all was in vain, for one night Aristomenes went as far 
as Amyclae, and returned laden with booty. In a second expedition 
of a similar kind, however, he was unsuccessful, and, with his com- 
panions, fell into the hands of his enemies, who, treating their cap- 
tives like vile malefactors, threw them into a deep pit called the 
Ceaias. The life of Aristomenes is said to have been saved in a 
marvellous manner, and he soon again joined his men at Eira. 
But after many most extraordinary adventures and successes which 
the legend ascribes to him, he incurred the anger of the gods, who 
now turned against his country. The siege of Eira had lasted 
eleven years, when the fall of Messenia was brought about by 
treachery, B. C. 66S. Guided by a herdsman who had learned the 
real condition of the enemy while concealed in the house of a Mes- 
Sfcnian, the Spartans attacked Eira, and, notwithstanding a most 
heroic defence of the besieged, which lasted for three days and 
three nights, there was no hope of success. Aristomenes, with a 
small band, forced his way through the besieging army, and went 
to Arcadia, where he was hospitably received. He afterwards made 
a last expedition into Laconia, where, with fifty of his companions 
in exile, he died sword in hand. 

19. After this war, which had lasted for seventeen years, all the 
Messenians who remained in their country were reduced to the con- 
dition of Helots ; but most of the people probably emigrated. 
Guided by sons of Aristomenes, a band of Messenians sailed to 
Khegium in southern Italy, to join some of their kinsmen who had 
already settled there at the end of the first war. Afterwards they 
made themselves masters of the town of Zancle, on the opposite 
coast of Sicily, and called it Messene (Messina). The Spartan yoke 
was now fixed on the neck of Messenia for ever, and Sparta rapidly 
rose towards the supremacy in Greece. Tegea, the possession of 
which had been long coveted, was conquered about the middle of 
the sixth century B. C. Sparta, in many instances, interfered in the 
affairs of the other Greek states, and assumed a commanding tone, 
to which they were obliged to submit. The fame of the most 

-powerful state in Greece spread so far, that even Croesus, the king 
of Lydia, sent ambassadors to court its friendship. 



144 HISTORY OP GREECE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF THE GREEKS, AND HISTORY OP 
ATTICA DOWN TO THE PERSIAN WARS. 

1. Independently of the colonies established abroad in conse- 
quence of the migrations and conquests described in the preceding 
chapter, Greece herself also experienced many changes in her 
ancient national institutions. The Greeks at all times had no other 
bond of union but that of their common language and religion ; in 
the expedition against Troy alone, they are said to have been also 
united under one military commander; but this union was only 
transitory, and produced no lasting effects. Greece remained 
divided into almost as many little states as it contained cities. 
There existed, however, from early times, certain associations for 
religious, and partly also for political purposes, some of which, in 
the course of time, assumed at least the appearance of national con- 
federations. The most important among them were those called 
Amphictionies, or Amphictyonies, that is, unions among a number 
of places or tribes, with a common centre, which was always a reli- 
gious one, such as a temple, at wliich the periodical meetings were 
held. One Amphictiony of this kind met at Onchestos in Boeotia, 
another in Calauroa, a small island of the Saronic gulf, and a third 
in Delos; but the most important and best known is that which 
held its meetings in the spring at Delphi, and in the autumn at 
Thermopylae. It was originally formed by twelve tribes, all of 
which belonged to the part of Greece north of the Corinthian isth- 
mus; but afterwards, the Dorians of Peloponnesus also joined the 
association, so that its influence extended over the whole of Greece. 
But it nevertheless at no time assumed a really national character. 
The ordinary duties of the congress of deputies were chiefly con- 
nected with religion, and its main functions were to guard the temple 
of Delphi, and to restrain mutual violence among the states belong- 
ing to the league. This last object, however, was not always 
attended to; for we sometimes find members of the Amphictiony 
inflicting the worst evils of war upon one another, without any 
attempt being made to check them. The league was, in fact, 
powerless for good, and active only for unimportant or pernicious 
purposes; and it may be truly said, that one of the chief objects 
for which the league appears to have been originally formed, was 
afterwards completely disregarded. The only cases in which we 
find the confederacy actively interfering, are those in which the 
honour and interests of the Delphic temple were concerned, as, for 



STATE OP THE ARTS. 145 

example, in the Crissaean or first sacred war, in B. c. 594. The 
inhabitants of Crissa were charged with extortion and violence 
towards strangers proceeding through their territory to Delphi. 
The Anaphictions accordingly commenced a war against the town, 
which lasted for ten years, until B. c. 585. At the end of this 
period, Crissa was taken and razed to the ground, its harbour 
choked up, and its fertile plain changed into a wilderness. This 
war, the termination of which was a flagrant violation of one of the 
fundamental rules of the Amphictionic league, is said to have been 
brought to a close by a stratagem devised by Solon, the Athenian 
lawgiver. 

2. Another class of national institutions consisted of the festive 
games celebrated at certain places, and at fixed intervals of time, 
and open to all true Greeks. The most important of these festivals 
was that celebrated every four years at Olympia, in Elis. The 
foundation of these Olympic games is extremely obscure ; but after 
they had been neglected for a long period during the disturbances 
created by the Doric conquest of Peloponnesus, they were revived 
by Iphitus in concert with Lycurgus, but it was not till B. c. 776 
that they were finally and permanently established, whence that 
year was employed as a chronological era. The Eleans presided at 
the games, and during their celebration there was a general suspen- 
sion of hostilities, to enable the Greeks from all parts to go to 
Olympia without danger or hindrance. The contests at these games 
in honour of the Olympian Zeus, consisted of exhibitions displaying 
almost every mode of bodily activity; they included races on foot, 
and with horses and chariots; contests in leaping, throwing, wrest- 
ling, and boxing, and some in which several of these exercises were 
combined, but no combats with any kind of weapon. Towns and 
families regarded it as the highest honour for one of their members 
to gain a victory in any of the contests at Olympia. The prize 
consisted of a simple garland of the leaves of the wild olive. 
Athens and Sparta showered honours upon any of their fellow-citi- 
zens who had obtained a prize. The celebrity of these games led 
to the institution of several others of a similar nature, such as tlie 
Pythian, which were celebrated in the thii'd year of every Olympiad 
— the Nemean and Isthmian, which were celebrated each twice in 
every Olympiad. These four contests were distinguished from all 
others chiefly by the nature of the prize, which was in all cases a 
simple garland. In regard to national unity, these contests had 
little influence, for they never induced the Greeks to merge their 
little local patriotism in the more comprehensive sentiment of a 
common country and nationality. The arts of poetry and sculpture, 
on the other hand, received strong nourishment at these exhibitions, 
for a victory gained often inspired the poet to the most sublime 
effusions of the lyric muse, and statues of the victors not only 
13 



146 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

adorned Olympia, but their native places, not to mention that lite- 
rary productions were sometimes read by their authors to the assem- 
bled Greeks. 

3. The form of government universally prevailing in the Greet 
states in the Homeric age, was a monarchy, limited by ancient cus 
torn as well as by the powerful chiefs, of whom the king was onlj 
the first, whence we may call it an aristocracy with a hereditary 
prince at its head. But owing to various causes which operated 
during the first centuries after the Trojan war, the title of royalty 
was abolished in nearly every part of Greece, and in all cases the 
power of the nobles increased at the expense of that of the kings. 
In our traditional history, the causes of this change are often quite 
fabulous ; but the truth is, that it mainly arose out of the energy 
and versatility of the Greek mind, which prevented it from ever 
b^'conjing stagnant like that of the Orientals, or from stopping 
short in any career which it had once opened, before it had passed 
through every stage. Royalty, however, was scarcely ever over- 
thrown by violent revolutions; its title often long survived the sub- 
stance, and the transition from monarchy to republicanism was 
generally brought about by a succession of reforms. The govern- 
ment substituted for monarchy was generally aristocratic or oli- 
garchic — that is, the supreme power was assumed by the nobles, 
■pho had subdued the original inhabitants of the country, and dis- 
tributed their landed property among themselves. In the course of 
time the commonalty, or the free subjects of the nobles, ever in- 
creasing in number and wealth, while the exclusive nobles became 
more reduced in numbers, put forward new claims, and became 
formidable opponents of the oligarchs, especially in large towns. 
Various means were devised by the nobles to check this progress of 
the commonalty, but to no purpo.se; and it often became necessary 
to make a compromise between the two parties, as for example in 
those cases where property was made the standard, instead of birth, 
to measure a citizen's rights and duties. Where the property 
standard was made low, the government at once became democratic 
instead of aristocratic. During the feuds between these two con- 
tending parties, it was sometimes found necessary to entrust unli- 
mited powers to some individual who possessed the confidence of 
both, for the purpose of restoring order and tranquillity. 

4. But the Greek oligarchies were sometimes also overthrown by 
a disastrous war, or by revolutions and dissensions within their own 
body; and it most commonly happened in such a case, that one of 
the nobles by skill and prudence conciliated the commonalty, and 
with its aid raised himself above his brother nobles. Such a 
usurper was designated by the name of tyrant, and his rule gene- 
rally did not last long; or if he did succeed in maintaining his 
power until his death, his sous generally lost it by their own reck- 



EARLY HISTORY OF ATTICA. 147 

lessness or cruelty, wtich called forth a conspiracy or insuiTection. 
It is worthy of remark that the Spartans were always ready to assist 
in overthrowing the power of a tyrant, though probably moi'e from 
a desire to extend their influence over the Greeks, than from any 
desire to free them from a usurper ; and this interference of theirs 
in the affairs of other states, greatly contributed to establish the 
so-called Spartan supremacy in Greece. The immediate object of 
the Spartans generally was, if possible, to introduce their own oli- 
garchic form of government in the place of the one they helped to 
overthrow. But in this attempt they were frequently thwarted. 
The process which has here been described in general, will be illus- 
trated in detail in the history of Attica ; and what happened there, 
was more or less the same as what occurred in other states of 
Greece. 

5. The early history of Attica is much less interesting than that 
of the Doric states; and it is in fact not till a comparatively late 
period that Athens begins to act a prominent part in Grecian his- 
tory, though after it had once come forward, it soon eclipsed all 
the other states. The country of Attica is said to have been origi- 
nally divided into a number of small independent states, governed 
by kings. The mythical king Cecrops is said to have united these 
states, and to have divided the country into twelve districts, or 
founded twelve towns. Athens, then called Cecropia, was at the 
head of this confederacy. The division of the country into twelve 
parts, seems to have been only a multiple of four, a number which 
we find in Attica no less than in other Ionian countries. Accord- 
ingly we hear of a division of the people of Attica into four tribes, 
which changed their names under several successive kings ; the last 
set of names, which was traced to Ion, the founder of the Ionian 
race, continued to be used until a very late period, and is the most 
important of all. These names, Teleontes, Hopletes, ^gieores, and 
Argades, are descriptive of certain occupations, the second and third 
evidently signifying warriors and shepherds respectively ; Argades 
probably referred to husbandmen, and the Teleontes were perhaps 
the nobles, who alone were entitled to hold the highest magistracies. 
These four divisions ought not to be regarded as castes, like those 
of India or Egypt ; and to whatever circumstances they mny have 
originally owed their names, the closer union among the people of 
Attica, and their intercourse with one another, in the course of time 
obliterated such primitive distinctions. The gradual union of these 
four tribes was promoted by their affiniry of blood and language, 
and by the need of mutual assistance ; and all were naturally dis- 
posed to look up to the people- of Athens as their natural head and 
centre. The legends, however, describe this as the work nf The- 
seus, who is said to have consolidated the national unity, and laid 
the fouodation of the greatness of Athens, by collecting the scat- 



148 HISTORYOF GREECE. 

tered inhabitants of Attica into one city, and putting an end to 
the perpetual discord among them. All that can be meant by this 
tradition is, that Attica became united as one state, of which Athens 
was the centre and seat of government, for it is inconceivable that 
all the population of Attica should have been collected into one 
city. In later times, several religious institutions, such as the 
Panathenaea, were believed to have been established to commemo- 
rate this union of Attica. Athens itself is said to have been en- 
larged on that occasion, and the lower city to have been added to 
the one existing on the Cecropian rock. The additional accommo- 
dation was probably required for the noble ftimilies which removed 
from the country to the seat of government. 

6. In later times Theseus was regarded as the founder of all the 
great political institutions of Athens, which probably arose from a 
desire to represent those things that were endeared to all as vene- 
rable also by their antiquity. In the constitution which he was 
believed to have framed, all the nobles, called eupatridae, had an 
equal share in the government; they possessed all the ofSccs of 
the state, with the power of regulating the affairs of religion, and 
of interpreting the laws, human and divine. The great body of 
the subject people consisted of husbandmen and artisans, who 
formed the commonalty, and were governed by the nobles and the 
king, whose rank, as in the Homeric poems, was only that of the 
first among his equals ; but still the union of the commonalty in 
the one great state must have strengthened it so far as to resist any 
excessive harshness on the part of the eupatridae. In all the states 
of antiquity, the tribes were subdivided ; iu Attica each of the four 
tribes was divided into three pliratriae or fraternities, and each 
phratria into thirty gcni, gentts, or clans. It need hardly be ob- 
served that these political arrangements, though ascribed to Theseus, 
were the natural results of circumstances, and that it probably re- 
quired a long period before they attained that development which 
the legend represents as the work of one man. 

7. Notwithstanding, however, the absolute power exercised by 
the king and his oiEcers, there existed at Athens,, as in most ancient 
states, an assembly of the people, that is, an assembly of the 
burghers or nobles, for the commonalty had as yet no right to appear 
and vote in it. The power of the assembly was at first probably as 
limited as it was at Sparta. Hence the first contests of the nobles 
were not waged with the commonalty, but with the king. The 
legends about the kings of Athens cannot be accepted as history, 
but still even these legends represent the kings as conspired against 
by the nobles; and certain it is, that after the death of Codrus, the 
nobles, taking advantage of the disputes between his sons about 
the succession, abolished the title of king, and substituted for it 
the simple and less venerable one of archon or ruler. The office, 



CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES. 149 

however, still remained hereditary in the house of Codrus and wag 
held for life. Medon, a son of Codrus, was the first archon for life, 
and on his demise the nobles elected a successor from his family. 
This power exercised by the nobles, however, did not satisfy their 
ambition, for what they aimed at was a complete and equal partici- 
pation in the sovereignty. Accordingly, after twelve archonships, 
ending with that of Alcmaeon, in B. C. 752, the duration of the 
office was limited to ten years, though it still continued to be held 
by the descendants of Medon. This change was followed in B. C. 
683 by another, in which the term of the archonship was reduced 
to a single year, and at the same time the different powers which 
had until then been possessed by one, were distributed among nine 
archons. This reform is said to have been introduced in conse- 
quence of the misconduct of Hippomenes, the fourth of the decen- 
nial archons, and through it a large number of nobles obtained a 
chance of receiving at least a share in the sovereign power. The 
first of these nine mgistrates bore the title of the archon, and by 
his name the year was marked; the second had the title of king- 
archon, the name king being retained from religious scruples, as he 
had to perform the priestly functions which had formerly belonged 
to the king. The third archon was styled polemarch, and had the 
command of the Athenian army, until the time of the Persian wars, 
after which this duty was transferred to others, while the polemarch 
only retained a special kind of jurisdiction. The remaining six 
archons had the common title of thesmothetae, that is, legislators, 
or rather expounders of the law. 

8. These successive changes are almost the only events that 
occur in the history of Athens from the time of Codrus down to 
the deposition of Hippomenes. The condition of the people of 
Attica, however, appears to have been anything but happy under 
the rule of their nobles, who seem to have abused their power as 
much as the Roman patricians, when frety:! from the control of the 
king. Their oppression was felt more especially in the administra- 
tion of the law, of which they were the sole makers and expounders, 
and in regard to which they might indulge the greatest license, be- 
cause there were no written laws. This circumstance led in B. C. 
624 to the appointment of Draco for the purpose of drawing up a 
code of laws. We do not know what was the cause of the extraor- 
dinary severity to which his laws owe their celebrity, but as they 
were written, they nt ''ossarily limited the powers of the nobles, and 
hence we may infer ; hat they had been compelled to make this 
concession to the gruwing discontent of the commonalty. The laws 
framed by Draco were so stern that they were said to be written in 
blood. All offences were in his eyes equally deserving of death as 
their punishment; and it is possible that it was owing to the un- 
13* 



150 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

popularity of his laws that Draco was obliged to quit his native city 
and go to ^gina, where he died. 

9. The discontent of the commonalty, instead of being allayed, 
now rose to such a pitch, that the people would readily have yielded 
to the rule of a tyrant in order to get rid of that of the nobles. 
In B. c. 612, Cylon, one of the nobles, formed a conspiracy to over- 
throw the government and make himself master of Athens. In 
this enterprise he relied upon the assistance of Theagenes, tyrant 
of Megara, and more especially on the general dissatisfaction of 
the people ; but before entering upon it he consulted the Delphic 
oracle, the obscure answer of which led him to commence his ope- 
rations at a wrong period. With the aid of a body of foreign 
troops furnished by Theagenes, he made himself master of the 
Acropolis ; but his auxiliaries deprived him of the confidence and 
support of the Athenian people. His brother nobles called in the 
forces from all parts of the country and besieged him. During the 
blockade, Cylon and his brother made their escape, but their fol- 
lowers were in the end compelled to surrender to the archon 
Megacles, son of Alcmaeon, on condition that their lives should be 
spared. The archons, however, broke their promise, and not only 
slew their prisoners, but even killed some of them at the altars of 
Eumenides or Furies, at which they had taken refuge. As this 
crime was committed with the sanction of Megacles, he and all his 
house were henceforth looked upon as accursed persons, whose lives 
were forfeited to the gods, and the surviving partisans of Cylon did 
not fail to foster the belief that all the disasters which came upon 
Athens were the result of the divine wrath provoked by the sacri- 
lege of Megacles. These superstitious alarms only increased the 
political ferment which was already going on, and it was evident 
that some extraordinary measure must be resorted to to prevent 
civil war, or even the ruin of the whole state. 

10. The man who was thought by all parties the most fit to 
undertake the regeneration of his countiy, and who by his wisdom 
and moderation was likely to satisfy the reasonable demands of all, 
was Solon, son of Execestides, and a descendant of the house of 
Codrus. He had been long absent from his country on foreign 
travel, during which he had amassed treasures of knowledge and 
had formed friendships with the most illustrious men of his age. 
He returned soon after the suppression of the Cylonian conspiracy, 
and found his country in a most deplorable condition, and so weak 
as to be unable even to resist the Megarians, who had taken posses- 
sion of the island of Salamis. The repeated vain attempts to 
recover it had completely broken the spirit of the Athenians; but 
Solon by a ruse once more stirred up their enthusiasm. He himself 
was appointed commander of the expedition, and in a single cam- 
paign drove the Megarians from the island, in B. c. 604. This 



SOLON. 151 

success raised his fame still higher. "With the assistance of the 
moderate nobles he prevailed upon Megacles and his party to 
submit their cuse to the decision of a court of three hundred men 
of their own order. The court declared them all guilty, and in 
B. C. 597 all the Alcmaeonids were sent into exile, and even the 
remains of the dead were removed beyond the frontiers of Attica. 
In order to propitiate the gods completely, it was necessary to purify 
the city, and for this purpose Solon invited Epimenides of Crete, 
one generally regarded as a sage of superhuman wisdom, who had 
enjoyed personal intercourse with the gods. On his arrival he per- 
formed certain rites which pacified the superstitious minds of the 
Athenians, and having made some religious arrangements, he re- 
turned home with tokens of the warmest gratitude. 

11. Their minds being now freed from religious fears, the 
Athenians were in a more suitable condition to consider their 
political aifairs with calmness. Many of the agricultural popula- 
tion had been reduced to a state of absolute dependence ; their 
political rights, if they had any, were merely nominal, and many 
when unable to pay their debts had been sold by their creditors as 
slaves into foreign countries ; for the Athenian law of debt was as 
severe as that of Rome, empowering a creditor to seize his insolvent 
debtor and to sell him abroad as a slave. Those who groaned under 
such tyranny were eager only for a change, unconcerned about the 
means of effecting it. The eupatrids, being the owners of the 
fertile plains of the country, wished to keep things as they were. 
The inhabitants of the hilly districts, mostly shepherds and poor 
peasants, though less exposed to the rapacity and cruelty of the 
nobles than the lowland peasantry, were anxious for reforms which 
should secure them the same rights as those possessed by their lords. 
The men of the coast, chiefly merchants and traders, were averse to 
violent measures, but nevertheless joined with the rest in demand- 
ing reforms which should put an end to all reasonable complaints. 
Under these circumstances Solon was chosen, with the consent of 
all parties, to mediate between them, and under the title of archon 
he was invested, in B. c. 594, with full authority to frame a new con- 
stitution and a code of laws. His task consisted of two parts : the 
first and most pressing business was to relieve the present distress 
of the commonalty, and the second to prevent the recurrence of the 
same or similar evils, by regulating the rights and duties of the 
citizens on principles of justice and fairness. His first measure 
accordingly was a disburdening ordinance, which relieved the debtor 
without causing any great loss to the creditor. He then released 
the pledged lands and restored them to their owners, and, lastly, he 
abolished that part of the law of debt which authorised a creditor 
to seize and sell the person of his debtor. 

12. When these most urgent affairs were settled, Solon entered 



152 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

upon his second task by abolishing the laws of Draco, except those 
referring to murder; it would seem that by this measure, a number 
of exiles, and among them the family of Megacles, were restored 
to their country. ]NIany foreigners also who had settled in Attica 
with their families, and had given up all connection with their own 
countries, were admitted as Athenian citizens. But the greatest 
change which he introduced, and which altogether changed the 
character of the Athenian constitution, was the substitution of 
property for birth, as the standard for determining the rights and 
duties of the citizens, although at first this change may have pro- 
duced little effect, the nobles being naturally the wealthiest citizens; 
but the principle was changed, and the highest rights were placed 
within the reach of all. According to their property, then, Solon 
divided all Athenians, both the nobles and the commonalty, into 
four classes. The first consisted of persons whose estates yielded a 
net yearly income or rent of five hundred medimni (a medimnus is 
about six pints more than a bushel) of dry or liquid produce ; the 
second of those whose income amounted to three hundred medimni, 
and who were called Knights, being able to keep a war-horse ; the 
third of those whose annual revenue amounted to two hundred, or 
more probably one hundred and fifty medimni, and who were termed 
Zeugitae (yoke-men), from their supposed ability to keep a yoke 
of oxen for the plough ; the fourth class, called thetes, comprised 
all those whose incomes fell below that of the third, and consisted 
mainly of free hired labourers. The highest offices of the state 
were accessible only to members of the first class, but minor offices 
were no doubt left open to members of the second and third. The 
duties of the citizens were determined by the classes to which they 
belonged ; thus the members of the second formed the cavalry, the 
third the heavy armed infantry, and the fourth, being excluded 
from all offices, served only as a light armed infantry and were em- 
ployed in later times in manning the fleets. In the popular assem- 
bly, the citizens of all the classes met on a footing of perfect 
equality, and its power from the first does not seem to have been 
limited to adopting or rejecting the measures laid before it by the 
senate, but the assembly might modify or amend the proposals at 
its discretion. The magistrates retained, in the constitution of 
Solon, their ancient powers, but became responsible for their 
exercise to the whole body of citizens. Their judicial functions 
also remained the same, but an appeal was left open against their 
verdicts to popular courts numerously composed of citizens of all 
classes indiscriminately. The democratic principle had thus ac- 
quired considerable strength even as early as the time of Sol'in, but 
the legislator had endeavoured to check its power by twu great 
councils, the senate of Four Hundred, and the Areopagus. 

13. The senate of Four Hundred, called bul6, is uniformly regarded 



LEGISLATION OP SOLON. 153 

"by the ancients as an institution of Solon ; at all events, it must be 
admitted that he fixed its number at four hundred, and that he 
gave it a more popular constitution by making it tlie representative 
of the classes, though the fourth was excluded. The qualifications 
for being elected a member of the bule were a certain amount of 
property and a certain age, no one under thirty years being eligible. 
They held their dignity for only one year, after which they were 
liable to be taken to accdlint for their conduct. The principal part 
of their business was to prepare the measures which were to be 
brought before the assembly of the people, and to preside at its 
deliberations. But the senate also had extensive powers connected 
with the finances and other subjects of administration. The 
second council, the Areopagus, is likewise called an institution of 
Solon, though according to the Attic legends it had existed from 
time immemorial. The functions of the Areopagus are involved in 
great obscurity; but we know that it took cognisance of cases of 
wilful murJer, maiming, poisoning, and arson, and that besides 
these judicial functions, it also had political powers. 

The ordinary assemblies of the people (ecclesiae) seem to have 
been held at most once in every month • the votes were taken by 
show of hands, and without any distinction of classes, so that the 
vote of the humblest Athenian was as weighty as that of the 
wealthiest, and every voter was allowed to speak. The right to 
take part in the business of the assembly began at the age of 
twenty, but those who had passed the age of fifty were called upon 
to speak first. 

The popular courts above alluded to consisted of a body of six 
thousand citizens, called the Heliaea, which was created every year 
by lot to form a supreme court. Every citizen, after attaining the 
age of thirty, might become a member of it. Solon's object seems 
to have been to make this court the guardian of the constitution 
rather than the minister of the laws. Hence we find it generally 
engaged in proceedings against illegal or unconstitutional measures, 
even when they had been sanctioned by the popular assembly. 

14. Being convinced that no constitution, however wisely framed, 
could remain in force at all times and under altered circumstances, 
he made provision for periodical revisions and improvements of the 
laws; and this task was left to the citizens, for a class of men 
making the law a special object of their study, did not exist at 
Athens. His legislation, like that of most ancient lawgivers, inter- 
fered with the afiairs of private and social life much more than the 
laws of modern states, but still Solon did not in this respect go so 
far as Lycurgus had gone. Up to the age of sixteen, the education 
of youths was left entirely to their parents or guardians ; during 
the next two years, they were trained in gymnastic exercises under 
public teachers, who kept them under severe discipline. At the 



154 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

age of eighteen, they entered upon their apprenticeship in arms, 
during which they had to perform several duties for the protection 
of their country. At the end of these two years, they were admit- 
ted to all the rights of a citizen, for which the law did not prescribe 
a more advanced age; and until the age of sixty, they were liable 
to be called upon to perform military services. The regulations 
regarding the female sex were very strin2;ent, and prevented their 
appearance in public as much as possible ; their education was dis- 
couraged rather than otherwise, whence in later times they were 
generally ill-suited to make agreeable and useful companions to 
their husbands. 

15. Sol in was the first to perceive the advantageous position of 
Athens for becoming a maritime state, and it was he who laid the 
foundation of the Attic navy, by enacting that each of the forty- 
eight divisions called naucrariae, into which the four tribes were 
subdivided, should equip a galley; he also encouraged commerce 
and manufactures by inducing foreigners to settle in Attica, and 
granting them protection and certain privileges. These resident 
aliens (called metoeci), however, had to pay a small alien-tax, and 
to place themselves under the protection of an Athenian citizen, 
who acted as their patron. The condition of the slaves remained 
on the whole what it had been before, and although in Attica they 
were in better circumstances than in other parts of Greece, the law 
yet sanctioned certain things which are revolting to human nature; 
and Solon in this respect did not rise above the prejudices of his 
age and country. 

16. The laws of Solon were inscribed on wooden tablets, and 
were at first kept in the Acropolis, but afterwards, for greater con- 
venience, they were set up in the Prytaneum, the residence of the 
committee of the senate. After the completion of his legislation, 
Solon is said to have travelled for ten years; and during his pere- 
grinations to have become acquainted with Croesus, king of Lydia, 
and Amasis, the ruler of Egypt, but these statements are irrecon- 
cilable with chronology. On his return to Athens, about B. C. 562, 
he found that faction had been busily engaged in attempting to 
pervert and undo his work. The three parties, of the plain, the 
highlands, and the coast, had revived their ancient feuds. The 
first was now headed by Lycurgus, the second by Megacles, an 
Alcmaeonid, and the third by Pisistratus, a kinsman and friend of 
Solon. The attempts of Solon to restore peace and union were of 
no avail ; and Pisistratus, a man of great eloquence and liberality, 
had resolved to renew the attempt of Cylon. One day he pre- 
tended to have been attacked by his enemies : exhibiting his 
wounds to the people, and representing that they were the fruit of 
bis attachmeut to the popular cause, he easily prevailed upon the 
multitude to grant him a body-guard for his persona] safety. With 



PISISTRATUS. 155 

this force he made himself master of the Acropolis, and Megacles 
and his friends quitted the city. Solon, after having: in vain made 
every effort against the tyrant, withdrew from public life, and 
Lycurgus and his party seem to have quietly submitted to the 
authority of Pisistratus, whose tyrannis commenced in B. c. 560. 
He avoided all display of power, being satisfied with the substance 
of it, and conducted himself outwardly as a simple citizen. Solon, 
whose advice the tyrant occasionally asked, died soon after, B. C. 
559. But Lycurgus, who had only waited for an opportunity, 
formed a coalition with Megacles, and their united efibrts com- 
pelled Pisistratus to quit Athens, his tyrannis having probably 
lasted not much more than one year. 

17. The people do not appear to have been much pleased with 
their new rulers, and as each of the two was only thinking how he 
could get rid of his rival, Megacles, who was particularly disap- 
pointed in his expectations, entered into negotiations with Pisistra- 
tus, gave him his daughter in marriage, and promised to assist him 
in recovering his lost position. Pisistratus entered into the scheme, 
and was conveyed back to Athens in a manner which even struck 
the historian Herodotus by its childish simplicity. When Pisis- 
tratus was restored, he offended Megacles by not treating his 
daughter as a wife. Her father and his friends, indignant at the 
insult, once more made common cause with Lycurgus, and drove 
Pisistratus from the city. The exiled tyrant now went to Eretria 
in Euboea, and is said to have been inclined to give up all furtlier 
attempts to recover what he had lost; but his eldest son Hippias 
urged him on not to despair. Accordingly he made preparations, and 
formed connections with powerful tyrants in other parts of Greece. 
Ten years were spent in these preliminaries, and at the end of this 
period he landed with an army of mercenaries at Marathon. The 
government of his adversaries had not been popular during his long 
absence; they assembled their forces, but want of care and circum- 
spection brought about their defeat on the road from Athens to 
Marathon. Pisistratus immediately proclaimed an amnesty, on 
condition of his enemies quietly dispersing to their homes. This 
act disarmed his opponents, and Pisistratus once more was undis- 
puted master of Athens. 

18. He now endeavoured permanently to secure the possession 
of what he had so hardly won ; and with this view he surrounded 
himself with a body of foreign mercenaries, and sent as hostages to 
Naxos the children of the nobles who had opposed him. At the 
same time he did all he could, by embellishing the city and extend- 
ing its maritime power, to gain popularity among the Athenians; 
and his success was so complete, that he maintained his position 
without any further interruption for a period of fourteen years, until 
his death, in B. c. 527. The increased naval power of Athens is 



156 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

evident from tlie fact that Pisistrutus raised his friend Ljgdamis to 
the tyrannis in Naxos, and recovered for Athens the town of Sigeum 
on the Hellespont, which was then in the hands of the Mytileneans, 
with whom the Athenians had been at war about it for many years. 
Pisistratus entrusted the keeping of Sigeum to a natural son, Hege- 
sistratus, and thus secured for himself a place of refuge, if fortune 
should ever again turn against him. At home he maintained the 
laws of Solon, and gained popularity by his munificence towards the 
poorer classes, while he removed some of them from the city, and 
obliged them to engage in rural occupations. He adorned Athens 
with many useful and ornamental works, such as a temple of Apollo, 
and one dedicated to the Olympian Zeus, of which, however, he 
had only laid the foundations when he died, and which was com- 
pleted many centuries later by the emperor Hadrian. Among the 
monuments combining splendour and usefulness, were the Lyceum, 
a park at some distance from Athens, where stately buildings for 
exercises of the Athenian youth rose among shady groves; and the 
fountain Callirrhoe. The expenses of these and other works were 
defrayed out of the revived tithe on the produce of the land, which 
accordingly was a tax levied on the rich for the purpose of giving 
employment to the poor. There is also a tradition that Pisistratus 
first collected the Homeric poems, which were until then scattered 
in unconnected rhapsodies; at all events, he certainly had a taste 
for literature, for he was the first Greek that formed a library for 
the good of those who wished to avail themselves of it. On the 
whole, it must be owned that Pisistratus made most excellent use 
of his usurped power, and Athens has had few citizens to whom 
she owed a greater debt of gratitude than to Pisistratus. He died 
at an advanced age, thirty-three years after his first usurpation. 

19. The Athenians had become so accustomed to the mild rule 
of Pisistratus, that his sons Hippias, Hipparchus, and Thessalus, 
succeeded him without opposition. Hippias, the eldest, was at the 
head of affairs, but the three brothers appear to have acted with 
great unanimity. At first they followed in the footsteps of their 
father, and Hipparchus, in particular, seems to have inherited his 
father's literary taste, though they seem not to have been very 
scrupulous about the means of getting rid of persons who had in- 
curred their hatred or jealousy. But still the country was happy 
and prosperous under them, and the Pisistratids might have gov- 
erned Athens for many generations, had not an event occurred 
which led to their overthrow and a complete change in the govern- 
ment. Harmodius, a young Athenian, had been grossly insulted 
by Hipparchus, and, instigated by his friend Aristogeiton, he medi- 
tated revenge. The two friends resolved to overthrow the ruling 
dynasty, and they and their comrades fixed on the festival of the 
Panathenaea as the time for executing their design. Hipparchus 



THE riSISTRATIDS. 157 

was killed durin 2; the precession, but Harmodius also fell in the 
fray. Aristogeiton was taken, and all those who were found to 
carry daggers were arrested. This happened in B. C. 514. Aris- 
togeiton was tried and put to death, but took revenge by denouncing 
the most intimate friends of Hippias as conspirators. Henceforth 
fear and suspicion gained the ascendancy in the tyrant's mind, and 
he became stern and cruel. Executions were now things of com- 
mon occurrence, and the taxes were increased, not for the public 
service, but to fill the tyrant's own coffers ; and seeing that he was 
hated and detested at home, he endeavoured to strengthen himself 
by foreign alliances. Thus he gave his daughter in marriage to the 
sm of the tyrant of Lampsacus, a protege of Darius, king of Persia. 
But all this could not avert the storm which he was daily conjuring 
up against himself. 

20. The exiled Alcmaeonids, perceiving the unpopularity of Hip- 
pias, and being abundantly supplied with money, resolved once 
more to try to effect their return and overthrow their rivals. Cleis- 
tlienes, who was then at thfir head, secured the favour of the Del- 
phic oracle by extraordinary liberality, and hence, whenever after 
this the Spartans consulted the oracle, they received but one answer 
bidding them restore Athens to freedom, until at length they 
resolved to send an army into Attica to expel Hippias with his 
family. On their first landing at Phalevon they were defeated by 
the Thessalian auxiliaries of Hippias; but in a second expedition 
under Cleomenes, the Thessalians were routed, and Hippias alarmed 
sent his children out of the country. They fell, however, into the 
hands of the Spartans, who restored them to their father only on 
condition of his quitting Attica. Accordingly Hippias, in B. C. 
510, left Athens, and for a time took up his residence at Sigeum. 
After his departure his friends and adherents were treated with 
great severity. A sentence of perpetual banishment was pronounced 
against the Pisistratids, and Harmodius and Aristogeiton received 
almost heroic honours. 

21. After these events, Cleisthenes, following in the footsteps of 
Pisistratus, attached himself to the popular party in opposition to 
the nobles, and planned a great change in the constitution, which 
should for ever break the power of the aristocracy. Having gained 
the confidtnce of the commonalty, and the sanction of the Delphic 
oracle, he abolished the four ancient tribes, and made a new geogra- 
phical division of Attica into ten tribes, each of which was sub- 
divided into a number of districts called demi, each containing some 
town or village as its centre. Each of these townships was gov- 
erned by a local magistrate called demarch, and every Athenian 
citizen was obliged to be enrolled as a member of some demos. At 
the same time Cleisthenes admitted many aliens and even slaves to 
the franchise, whereby he increased the strength of his own party. 

14 



158 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

These reforms cliantred the commonalty into a new body, furnished 
■with new organs, and breathing a new spirit, which had shaken oif 
all control of the old nobility. In accordance with the number of i 
ten tribes, the senate was increased from four hundred to five hua-- 
dred, fifty being taken from each tribe. The popular assembly ] 
henceforth was convened regularly four times in every month ; the 
Heliaea was subdivided into ten lesser courts, but the number of 
the archons remained unchanged. Cleisthenes is also said to have 
instituted the famous process of ostracism, by which the people 
were enabled to get rid of any citizen who had made himself for- 
midable or suspected, and that without any proof or even imputa- 
tion of ffuilt. 

22. The party of the nobles naturnlly detested the revolutionary 
proceedings of Cleisthenes as much as their author, and, urged on 
by their leader Tsagoras, they contrived to win the Spartans over 
to their side. Cleomenes, the king of Sparta, accordingly demanded 
of the Athenians to banish the accursed race of the Alcmaeonids. 
Cleisthenes, either dreading the cry which had so often been disas- 
trous to his family, or unwilling to expose his country to a hostile 
invasion, withdrew from Athens. The Spartan king, however, not 
satisfied with this, but bent upon raising his friend Isagoras to the 
tyrannis, invaded Attica with an army, and, acting as if he were 
sole master of the country, banished seven hundred families marked 
out by Tsagoras, and then took steps to change the government of 
Athens into an oligarchy. But this attempt roused the spirit of 
the people, who besieged him and Isagoras in the Acropolis. After 
a few days they were obliged to capitulate; the Spartans and Isa- 
goras were permitted to depart, but all their Athenian adherents were 
put to death, and Cleisthenes, with the seven hundred exiled fami- 
lies, triumphantly returned to Athens in B. c. 508. 

23. Cleomenes having secured the alliance of the Corinthians, 
Boeotians, and Chalcidians, determined to wipe off the disgrace of 
the defeat he had sustained, by another invasion of Attica, which 
was now attacked on several sides ; but some of his allies began to 
feel ashamed of what they were doing, and returned home, and as 
the two Spartan kings also could not agree as to their plan of opera- 
tion, the enterprise was abandoned. In this distress, Athens had 
sent envoys to Sardis, to seek the protection of Persia, but the em- 
bassy had no effect, and is interesting only as the first occasion on 
which a Greek state had any dealings with Persia. After the 
Spartans had withdrawn, the Athenians set out to chastise the Boeo- 
tians, whom they defeated, and of whom they took seven hundred 
prisoners; they then crossed over into Euboea, where they were 
equally successful ; they deprived the rich Chalcidian landowners 
of their estates, and distributed them among four thousand Attic 
colonists who settled there, but retained their franchise. Athens, 



GREEK COLONIES. 159 

thus freed from internal as well as external enemies, became strong 
and powerful in the enjoyment of political liberty. So long as she 
had been ruled by her nobles, she had at times scarcely been able 
to cope with the weakest among her neighbours, but now she ad- 
vanced far ahead of them all. And this is the best proof of the 
wisdom of Cleisthencs, who, no doubt, well understood the temper 
and character of his countrymen. 

24. But the foreign enemies of Athens were only hushed for a 
time, and were secretly plotting against her. The Boeotians, burn- 
ing to avenge their defeat, allied themselves with the ^ginetans, 
ancient enemies of Athens; and while they invaded Attica from 
the north, the jEginetans, with their powerful navy, ravaged the 
coasts. This war, in which Athens learnt the necessity of increas- 
ing her fleet, lasted, with various interruptions, for about fifty years, 
and terminated in B. C. 456, in the subjugation of ^gina, and the 
destruction of its navy. 

The Spartans, in the meantime, had discovered that they had 
been imposed upon by the Delphic priestess who had led them to 
assist in the expulsion of the Pisistratids. This, and the fear of 
the growing power of Athens, led them to invite Hippias to return 
to Athens. He was to be supported by Sparta and all her allies, 
and a congress of them was convened to consider the measures to 
be adopted. At this congress the Corinthian deputy, Sosicles, 
strongly objected to the scheme of setting up a tyrant among a free 
people, and, encouraged by his eloquence, all the other deputies, 
with one accord, declared against the proposal of the Spartans. 
The design was accordingly abandoned, and Hippias soon afterwards 
proceeded to the court of Darius, where he did his best to stimu- 
late the barbarians to a war against his own country. 



CHAPTER V. 

GREEK COLONIES, AND THE PROGRESS OF ART AND LITERATURE 
FROM THE HOMERIC AGE TO THE PERSIAN WARS. 

1. A MIGRATORY disposition, and a eertnin degree of restlessness, 
often induced bodies of Greeks to quit their native land, and !o 
open for themselves new fields of enterprise in foreign countries. 
All the shores of the Mediterranean and Black sea were covered 
with their colonies in such numbers, that even about the year B. C. 
600 they are said to have amounted to two hundred and fifty. But 



160 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

while they thus established themselves in all parts round the basins 
of those two seas, they at the same time possessed the talent of 
maintainins; and preserving their national character wherever they 
went, and by this means they difi'used the Greek language andi 
civilisation in all countries where they formed settlements. The 
causes of their migrations were sometimes war and conojucst, some- 
times discord and party strife at home, sometimes over-population 
and poverty, and in later times, also, commercial interests. On 
quitting their native city, they took with them the sacred fire from 
the public hearth, for colonies continued at all times to maintain 
towards the mother city a relation similar to that of a daughter 
towards a parent; they retained the customs, institutions, and reli- 
gious observances of the mother city, showed it their respect on 
certain solemn occasions, and never carried on war against it, unless 
compelled by dire necessity. They did not, however, enter into a 
relation of dependence on the mother state, but were entirely free 
in their internal administration and government, though, when 
visited by misfortunes from domestic or foreign enemies, a colony 
naturally looked to the mother city for aid and protection. 

2. We have already spoken' of the earliest or ^olian colonies, 
which were founded immediately, or soon after the Trojan war. 
The main body of the emigrants is said to have first landed at 
Lesbos, where they founded sis towns. Other detachments occu- 
pied the opposite coasts of Asia Minor, from mount Ida to the 
mouth of the river Hermus. This part of the coast was until then 
in the hands of Pelasgian tribes, which easily amalgamated with 
the new settlers into one people. Cuma was the principal of the 
eleven ^^^olian cities which thus sprang up on the Asiatic coast; 
and Cuma and Lesbos founded thirty others in the territory called 
Troas. It is not certain whether these iEolian colonies were united 
by any religious or political bond like those by which the Ionian 
and Dorian colonies on the same coast were kept together. The 
coast country south of iEolis, from the river Hermus to the Mae- 
ander, was occupied by the Ionian colonies, consisting chiefly of 
the lonians who had been dislodged by the conquest of Pelopon- 
nesus by the Dorians.^ On their passage across the ^gean, many 
formed settlements in the Cyclades and other islands, and in the 
course of time the little island of Delos came to be considered as 
the common centre of the Ionian race. The Asiatic coast occupied 
by these emigrants was inhabited by Pelasgians, Carians, and 
Leleges, the last two of which tribes were expelled or exterminated. 
Twelve cities or states were formed, of which Miletus occupied the 
first rank; all claimed sons or kinsmen of Codrus, king of Athens, 
for their ancestral heroes. Ten of the twelve Ionian cities had 
existed before the arrival of the new settlers, but Clazomenae and 
' See pp. 127, 131. » Comp. pp. 132-3. 



GREEK COLONIES. 161 

Phocaea were founded by the lonians themselves. Chios and 
Samos were likewise occupied by lonians, and Smyrna was added 
to the confederacy at a later time, in the place of Melite, which 
was destroyed by the other members of the league. 

3. The south-western corner of Asia Minor and the adjacent 
islands were occupied about the same time by colonists of the Doric 
race ; for some of the Dorian conquerors themselves were drawn 
into the tide of migration, and led bands of their own race and of 
the conquered Achaeans to the coast of Asia Minor. The most 
celultrated of these expeditions was that of Althaemenes of Argos, 
who led colonists to Crete and Rhodes. Halicarnassus was founded 
by Dorians from Troezen, and Cnidus by others from Laconia, and 
a third band from Epidaurus took possession of the island of Cos. 
These six Dorian cities formed an association, and after the exclu- 
sion of Halicarnassus, they constituted what is called the Dorian 
pentapolis. There existed, however, many other Dorian towns, 
both on the coast and far inland, but they formed no part of this 
confederation. When the tide of these migrations had passed, and 
the affairs of Greece had become settled, a long period elapsed be- 
fore fresh colonies were established in distant regions. The coun- 
tries which next attracted the attention of the enterprising Greeks 
were the south of Italy (Magna Graecia) and the island of Sicily. 
The colonies founded on these western shores, like those in the east, 
were partly JEolian or Achaean, partly Dorian, and partly Ionian; 
but the lonians of Chalcis in Euboea were the first who gained a 
permanent footing in the west, for the Ionian Cuma in Campania 
was by common consent the most ancient Greek settlement in those 
parts. It had existed, however, a long time before other adven- 
turers followed in the same track, and it was not till B. C. 735 that 
Theocles, an Athenian, led a colony of Chalcidians from Euboea 
and Naxos to Sicily, and established the town of Naxos. After 
this commencement, a number of other Chalcidian colonies followed 
in rapid succession, such as Leontini, Catana, Messene, and Pihe- 
gium, on the opposite coast of Italy. 

4. But the most powerful colonies of Sicily were of Doric origin. 
Of these, Syracuse was founded in B. C. 734 by Corinthians, who 
also established themselves in Corcyra, and in many other parts of 
the coast of the Adriatic. Syracuse, in its turn, became the me- 
tropolis of many other Sicilian towns, among which Camarina was 
the most important. Megara planted her most flourishing colonies 
on the coasts of the Propontis and the Bosporus, where, in B. c. 
658, she founded Byzantium; but Megarian emigrants also founded 
Hybla in Sicily, which, in B. c. 629, became the parent of Selinus. 
Gela was founded in B. c. 690 by a body of Cretans and Rhodians, 
and in B. c. 582 sent out a band of settlers, who founded Agri- 
gentum on the Acragas. Himera, on the north coast, was founded 

14* 



1 02 H I S T O II Y O F R E F. C E . 

by colonists from Mcsscdo, and Porinus who had been banished 
from Syracuse. "Within hylf a century after the first Greek settle- 
ments in Sicily, most of the great cities in southern Italy were 
founded. Sybaris, Croton, Locri, Tarentum, and Metapontum, ex- 
tended and secured the dominion of the Greeks in Italy by a 
number of new colonies, among which we need only mention Posi- 
donia (Paestum), the ruins of which still attest its former greatness. 

The country of Cyrene, on the north coast of Africa, possesFcd 
of inexhaustible wealtli and a delightful clin)ate, was colonised by 
the island of Thera, and the city of Cyrene itself founded four 
other towns in the same district. The Libyans of those parts seem 
to have yielded to the invaders without much opposition ; and when 
at a later time they began to be alarmed ahout the growing power 
of the Greeks, they were defeated with terrible slaughter, and the 
dominion of the Greeks was firmly established in that part of Africa. 
Cyrene was governed for a time by kings, like the mother country; 
but about B. C. 037 there came an influx of additional settlers, and 
this seems to have made the people dissatisfied with their institu- 
tions. Demonax of Mantinea being invited to frame a new consti- 
tution, divided the people into three tribes, the first consisting of 
the descendants of the original settlers; the king was stripped of 
all his substantial powers; but afterwards a counter-revolution having 
been brought about, the government became a tyrannis. 

5. The two groups of Greek colonies in Asia, the Ionian and the 
Dorian, formed each a kind of confederacy, though it was very 
loose, and fi\r from uniting them into two compact political bodies. 
Each group had its periodical meetings for the celebration of fes- 
tivals in honour of a tutelary divinity, but these meetings, at most, 
afibrded an opportunity of discussing political matters in case of 
need. The meetings of lonians were held at the foot of mount 
Mycale, on a spot called Panionium, and sacred to Poseidon ; and 
those of the Dorians near a temple of Apollo, on the Triopian head- 
land. None of the Greeks in Asia ever rose to the idea of a real 
political confederacy, like that subsisting among the Lycian towns, 
although tbe fact of their being exposed to the attacks of Asiatic 
barbarians ought to have induced them to strengthen themselves by 
union. Had they done so, their own history, and even that of the 
mother country, might have been very difierent from what it was. 
But this want of unity did not affect the prosperity of the several 
cities ; on the contrary, in many respects their progress was so rapid 
that they outstripped the mother country itself. About the same 
time when the Greek states in Europe abolished royalty and esta- 
blished republican institutions, the same took place in the colonies 
of Asia. Miletus became a most powerful mantime state, and the 
parent of numerous colonies in Asia and on the coasts of the Euxine, 
which extended the en ] m^ -. f ilie Greeks to most distant regions. 



GREEK COLONIES. 163 

In comparison with the active and enterprising spirit of the lonians, 
the ^olians and Dorians remained stationary. But it was not only 
commerce and wealth that had charms for the lonians; they also 
took the lead in the cultivation of the fine arts and of literature. 
The Euxine lost its terrors, when opened by the Milesians, while 
other lonians turned their attention to the west. The Phocaeans 
founded Emporiae in Spain, and about B. c. 600 Massilia in Gaul, 
where they spread civilisation and the use of the Greek alphabet 
amonp; the Celts. The Rhodians, who form an exception to the 
general character of the Doric colonies in Asia, also founded settle- 
ments in Spain and Gaul. We have already had occasion to men- 
tion that about the year B. c. 650 Psammetichus, king of Egypt, 
induced Greeks to go to his dominions, and allowed them to settle 
there.' This brief survey at once shows that thei'e was not a 
country round the basin of the Mediterranean, that was not more 
or less influenced and benefited by the mild genius of Greek culture 
and civilisation. 

6. While the Asiatic Greeks were flourishing in freedom, com- 
merce, wealth, arts, and arms, the kingdom of Lydia gradually en- 
croached upon their territory, and in the end crushed their indepen- 
dence. Gyges, the first Lydian king of the Mermnad dynasty, took 
Colophon, and invaded the territories of Smyrna and Miletus. Under 
his successor Ardys, Priene was subdued, while Sadyattes and Alyattes 
waged war against Miletus for many years, until in b. c. 612 a peace 
and alliance were concluded between Lydia and Miletus. Croesus 
conquered Ephesus, but treated it leniently; and in a short time all 
the Greek towns of the continent were compelled to acknowledge him 
as their master. Croesus, being an admirer of the Greeks, and a lover 
of their culture, treated them in such a manner that they felt his rule 
scarcely in anything else than in the necessity of paying tribute to 
him, for they were permitted to regulate their own internal aifairsas 
they pleased. He is also said to have contemplated the subjugation 
of the neighbouring islands, but was cautioned against it, and confined 
himself to extending his kingdom towards the east. In this he 
succeeded so far as to make himself master of the whole of Asia 
Minor to the river Halys — Lycia and Cilicia alone maintaining their 
independence. The fame of Croesus resounded throughout Greece, 
and his liberality towards the Greeks was unbounded. In the end 
he became involved in a contest with Cyrus, who made Croesus his 
captive, and himself master of the kingdom of Lydia, including 
the Greek colonies, B. c. 546.^ The Lydians were deprived of their 
arms, and compelled by their conquerors to devote themselves to the 
arts of peace and luxury, in consequence of which they lost their 
warlike character, and sunk into effeminacy. As Cyrus himself was 
obliged to return to his eastern pi'ovinces, he left the task of com- 

' See p. 107. ' Comp. pp. 66 and 89. 



1G4 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

pleting the conquest of the Greek colonies to his lieutenants. The 
Greeks were willing to submit to the Persians on the same terms 
which had been granted to them by Croesus; but as unconditional 
surrender was demanded, the)' prepai-ed for resistance. Envoys were 
sent to Sparta for assistance, but in vain, and Mazares, a Median 
general of Cyrus, took the towns of Priene and Magnesia. Harpagus, 
the successor of Mazares, vigorously pressed the Ionian cities. The 
inhabitants of Phocaea, finding that resistance was hopeless, emi- 
grated to the western parts of the Mediterranean, where they had 
already planted some colonies. They first sailed to Alalia in Corsica, 
but being attacked there by the Carthaginians and Etruscans, some 
sailed to their countrymen in Massilia, and others to Rhegium in 
southern Italy, where they founded Elea. The example of Phocaea 
was followed by Teos, whose inhabitants sailed to the coast of Thrace, 
where they founded the city of Abdera. In this manner all the 
Ionian cities were conquered by Harpagus, and even some of 
the islands endeavoured to avert greater calamities by voluntary 
submission. 

7. After the conquest of the ^olian and Ionian cities, Harpagus 
advanced southward. The Carians submitted without a struggle ; 
but Lycia determined to defend its ancient liberty. The men of 
Xanthus, when besieged by the Persians, burnt their cit}', together 
with their wives and children, and then sallying forth died sword in 
hand. Other towns followed the same example, but whatever did 
not bend to the will of the conqueror, was broken and ground to 
dust, so that after a short time the whole of Asia Minor was obliged 
to acknowledge the sovereignty of Persia. The Persian rule was 
perhaps not much more oppressive than that of Croesus had been ; 
hut the misfortune was, that the Asiatic Greeks might be compelled 
by their new masters to fight against their kinsmen in Europe. 
However, during the reign of Cambyses, they remained quiet, and 
the islands which had at first submitted were almost quite free, as 
the Persians had no fleet to enforce their commands. Samos was 
then governed by the powerful tyrant Polycrates, and possessed a 
fleet of one hundred galleys. He became involved in a war with 
Miletus which bi'ought him into conflict with Persia. In order to 
avoid this, and at the same time gain a powerful ally in Cambyses 
against secret enemies at home, he assisted the Persian monarch 
with a portion of his fleet against Egypt, taking care to embark 
those men whom he had most reason to fear. But as the design 
was discovered, the fleet turned against him, and being unsuccessful, 
the men solicited aid from Sparta against the tyrant. The Spartan 
auxiliaries, though strengthened by a band of Corinthians, were 
unable to efiect anything, and the exiled Samians, after ranging for 
some time as pirates in the JEgean, finally established themselves at 
Cydonia in Crete. Polycrutes, now stronger than ever, resumed his 



ART AND LITERATURE. 165 

old plan of extending his dominion by the aid of Persia; but being 
treacherously enticed to go to Sardes, he was seized and hung upon 
a cross, B. c. 522. The Saniians who had accompanied him were 
dismissed, and the satrap made an attempt to gain possession of 
Samos. The Greek cities of Asia continued, without much molest- 
ation from Persia, to live in peace and prosperity, until, in the reign 
of Darius, they allowed themselves to be enticed by an unprincipled 
adventurer into open rebellion against their rulers. 

8. The cultivation of the arts kept pace with the advance of 
public and private prosperity, especially among the lonians in Asia, 
who made more rapid progress even than the Greeks in the mother 
country. The same spirit which led the lonians to commercial en- 
terprises in distant lands, found employment at home in the 
cultivation of the arts which cheered and adorned their public and 
private life. Corinth and a few other Doric cities also could boast 
of early schools of art, but the lonians surpassed them all, while 
Athens had as yet not emerged from its obscurity as a seat of art 
and literature. In Ionia and Samos temples of great splendour were 
erected at an early period, and the art of casting metal statues is 
said to have been invented in Samos. The progress which this and 
the sister arts made was extremely rapid. Sculpture in marble 
came into extensive use in consequence of its connection with ar- 
chitecture, the temples being sumptuously adorned with statues and 
figures in high relief. Statues intended for worship in the temples 
were generally of a typical character, and the artists Were not 
allowed much freedom in their execution ; but the case became 
diiferent when sculptures were employed as ornaments for the out- 
side of temples and other public buildings. The custom of honouring 
the victors in the public games with statues contributed still more 
towards the rapid development of the art — an art in which the 
Greeks have never been equalled, much less surpassed. 

9. The same spirit which in art gradually brought about the union 
of truth and beauty also gave birth to new branches and forms of 
poetry. The first period of Greek literature is marked by the names 
of Homer and Hesiod, the former representing its beginning, and 
the latter its close ; but we must not imagine that these poets were 
the only ones that adorned the first dawn of Greek literature ; we 
have every reason to believe that the compositions and names of 
many others are lost, whose fame was eclipsed only by that of their 
great contemporaries. Hesiod was, like Homer, the head of a poeti- 
cal school, and among the works which have come down under his 
name, some are undoubtedly the productions of others. He was a 
native of Ascra in Boeotia, but the time at which he lived is as 
uncertain as that of Homer, though it is generally assumed that he 
flourished after Homer, about B. c. 850. As Homer had been the 
poet of a conquering race of warriors, so Hesiod was the poet of 



166 HISTORY or GREECE. 

the peaceful peasantry of Boeotia, for in this character he appears 
in his " Works and Diiys," the only composition which has always . 
been re<z:arded as genuine. 

10. Epic poetry, however, continued to flourish for two centuries 
after the beginning of the Olympiads, and the poets of tiiis latter 
period are usually called the cyclic poets, because the subjects of 
their poems embraced a definite cycle or period of time. No sub- 
ject, however, was excluded, from the origin of the world down to 
the close of the heroic age; but as the poetical interest in these 
compositions was subordinate to the desire to represent the events 
in their natural order of succession, these poems were the forerun- 
ners of history. "We have no specimens of Greek lyric poetry as 
ancient as Homer, though we have no reason for believing that it 
was not cultivated at a very remote period ; but it reached the 
summit of perfection at the time when epic poetry was dying away. 
Unfortunately, however, all the works of the Greek lyrists have 
perished, with the exception of the epinician odes of Pindar The 
few fragments of the other great lyric poets, however, are sufficient 
to justify the admiration of the ancients, and to show us how much 
we have to lament the loss of those masterpieces of the Greek 
muse. Lyric poetry was cultivated especially by the Dorians and 
Cohans, and with the former the themes were chiefly religious, 
martial, or political, while with the others they were more of a 
sentimental character. The grand choral poetry, which was peculiar 
to the Dorians, was brought to perfection by Arion and Stesichorus, 
and formed the element out of which afterwards the Athenian 
Thespis developed the Attic tragedy by the introduction of recita- 
tion by the performer. The most illustrious among the ^nlian and 
Ionian lyrists are Archilochus, Hipponax, Alcaeus, on the one hand, 
and Anacreon, Ibycus, Mimnermus, and Sappho, on the other. 

11 Prose was cultivated in Greece, as in all other countries, at 
a much later period than poetry, and Pherecydes of Syros, who 
lived about b. c. 550, is said to have been the first prose writer in 
Greece, and Cadmus of 3Iiletus to have first applied prose to histori- 
cal subjects. The first attempts in historical composition were 
mythological, and probably consisted of paraphrases in prose of 
portions of the epic cycle. Writers of this class could have no 
higher aim than to amuse and to gratify patriotic vanity, or the 
popular taste for the marvellous. 

A certain spirit of jihilosophical inquiry manifests itself among 
the Greeks from the very earliest times, as their poetrj' and religion 
amply testify ; but philosophy as a distinct branch of study does 
not appear until the middle of the sixth century B. c. Taat time 
was the period of the Seven Sages, all practical men, and actively 
engaged as statesmen, magistrates, or legislators. Their wisdom 
accordingly was derived from their intercourse with the world, rather 



PHILOSOPHY. 167 

than from deep meditation or speculation. But at the same time a 
few of the bolder spirits were led by the contemplation of the 
universe to inquire after a first cause of all the visible phenomena. 
The most ancient school of philosophy was founded by Thales of 
Miletus, a contemporary of Solon. He maintained that water or 
some liquid was the origin of all things. Half a century later, 
Anaximenes, likewise a Milesian, taught that air was the universal 
source of life, and Heraclitus of Ephesus attributed the same power 
to fire or heat. The mighty problem which those infant philosophers 
set themselves to solve cannot but fill us with wonder and amaze- 
ment, and, however defective their solutions were, they gradually 
led to the recognition of one svipreme mind, distinct from the 
visible world, to which it imparted motion, form, and order. 

Nearly simultaneously with the Ionic school of philosophy, 
another sprang up at Elea or Velia, a Phocaean colony in the south 
of Italy. Its founder Xenophanes had emigrated from Colophon 
to Elea about B. C. 536. His system was based on the assumption 
of a supreme intelligence, which was identical with the world. His 
disciple Purmenides pursued his inquiries in the same direction, but 
set out from the idea of being, not from that of deity. His fol- 
lowers, Zeno and Melissus, were chiefly engaged in combating the 
opinions of other philosophers and of the vulgar. 

It is not known whether Thales wrote an exposition of his doc- 
trines, but his disciple Anaximander did so in a prose work, and 
his example was followed by all the philosophers of the Ionic school. 
Xenophanes and Parmenides, on the other hand, explained their 
systems in verse, a mode which was also adopted by Empedocles of 
Agrigentum. The remains of these works breathe a strain of 
oracular solemnity and obscurity. 

12. The most celebrated of the western schools of philosophy 
was founded by Pythagoras of Samos, about B. C. 570. His his- 
tory is very obscure, and partly mythical. It seems, however, 
certain that he gathered much information by travelling in foreign 
countries, such as Egypt. He is said to have been the first to 
assume the title of philosopher, that is, lover of wisdom. His mind 
appears to have been chiefly of a mathematical turn, and several 
discoveries in mathematics and astronomy are attributed to him. 
His fundamental doctrine was, that numbers represented the 
essence and properties of all things. He also taught the immor- 
tality of the soul in the form of a transmigration, similar to that 
maintained by the Brahmins and Egyptians. 

On his return from bis travels he went to the continent of Greece, 
being unable to endfire the tyrannis of Polycrates, and then pro- 
ceeded to Italy, fixing his residence at Croton. This city was dis- 
tracted by the feuds between the nobles and the commonalty, but 
the influence of the former predominated, and Pythagoras proved 



f68 HISTORY or GREECE. 

a useful ally to them. He formed an order or society consisting of 
three hundred of the noblest young men collected from the Greek 
cities in Italy, through whom he hoped to exercise an influence 
upon all his countrymen in the west. This society seems to have 
been at once a philosophical school, a religious brotherhood, and a 
political association of an aristocratic or oligarchic character. All 
the proceedings of this body were enveloped in great mystery. 
Neither Pythagoras himself nor his disciples appear to have in- 
tended to come forward as reformers or lawgivers, but rather to 
exercise a quiet and gradual influence on their countrymen by 
doctrine and example; but he became involved in a political con- 
test in which he exerted himself to give support to the aristocracy. 
The popular party, roused by jealousy of the influence of the 
Pythagoraean fraternity, brought several charges against it. At 
Sybaris the democrats compelled five hundred nobles to quit the 
city. They took refuge at Croton, and when their surrender was 
demanded l3y the people of Sybaris, the Senate of Croton, by the 
advice of Pythagoras, refused to comply with the request, and pre- 
pared to repel force by force. A war between the two cities was 
the result, and the Crotoniats, commanded by Milo, a disciple of 
Pythagoras, were victorious. Sybaris was destroyed and swept from 
the face of the earth, the river Crathis being turned through its 
ruins, B. C. 510. The aristocratic party at Croton wished to secure 
for themselves all the advantages of this victory, but the common- 
alty, indignant at such selfishness, rose against them, and more 
especially against the Pythagoraeans. The house in which the 
latter were assembled was set on fire, B. c. 504; many of them 
perished, and the rest found safety only in exile. Pythagoras him- 
self is said to have died soon after at Metapontum. The fall of 
the Pythagoraeans strengthened the commonalty not only at Croton, 
but in all the cities of southern Italy; but party feuds continued 
to disturb their peace and prosperity for many years afterwards. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE PERSIAN WARS DOWN TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE 
SUPREMACY or ATHENS. 

1. Darius, who ascended the throne of Persia in B. c. 521, came 
in contact with the Greeks through his conquest of Thrace and 
Macedonia, which he reduced during his great expedition against 
the Scythians ; but even before that event, he had had to interfere 



CONQUESTS OF DARIUS IN EUROPE. 169 

ia the affairs of Samos, which, after the death of Polycrates, was 
governed by the tyrant Maeandrius. Syloson, a brother of Poly- 
crates, claiming the succession for himself, sought and obtained the 
assistance of Persia. An army under Otanes came across and suc- 
ceeded indeed in restoring Syloson, but not until nearly the whole 
population was massacred, so that Syloson became the ruler of a 
deserted island. The cause, as well as the progress of Darius' expe- 
dition against the Scythians, who then occupied the plains between 
the Danube and the Don, is involved in great obscurity ; and 
scarcely any fact connected with it is quite certain, except that it 
was conducted by Darius in person, and that it failed (about B. c. 
507). An enormous army of nearly a million of men, it is said, 
was led by him across the Thracian Bosporus; and a fleet of six 
hundred sail, furnished by his Greek subjects, and commanded by 
their tyrants, was to sail up the Danube to a certain point, where it 
was to meet the land force. The king, with his army, without 
meeting much opposition, crossed the Danube, and then ordered the 
bridge, which had been constructed over the river, to be broken 
down. But being reminded that it might be wanted on his return, 
he ordered it to be left standing for sixty days. He then proceeded 
against the Scythians. The subsequent part of tliis enterprise is 
full of impossibilities and inconsistencies ; and it is impossible to 
say moi'e, than that the pursuit of the Persians was in the end 
changed into a retreat, in which they were obliged to abandon their 
baggage and the sick. When the sixty days had elapsed, and the 
bridge over the Danube was to be broken down, Miltiades, the 
Athenian, tried to persuade the Greeks to take it down, and thus 
at once to deliver themselves from the yoke of Persia ; but, on the 
advice of Histiaeus, tyrant of Miletus, it was allowed to stand. 
Soon after, Darius returned, and his army was still large enough to 
enable him to leave eighty thousand men in Europe under Mega- 
bazus, to complete the conquest of Thrace and the Greek cities on 
the Hellespont. Darius, on returning to Asia, rewarded Histiaeus 
for his services with a district on the river Strymon, the tjrannis 
of Histiaeus over Miletus being intrusted to his cousin Aristagnras. 
2. Megabazus reduced Perinthos, and having subdued all the 
Thracian tribes which had not yet submitted to his master, he made 
an expedition against the Paeouians, whom Darius wished to be 
transported into Asia. The great body of this people dispersed, 
but some of them were, by the king's command, located in Phrygia. 
When this matter was accomplished, Megabazus demanded of 
Amyntas, king of Macedonia, earth and water, the usual symbols 
of submission. Macedonia at this time was only a small kingdom, 
of which the ruling dynasty was believed to be of Hellenic origin, 
and descended from Heracles ; but the people were a mixture of 
lUyrians and Pelasgians, and were always looked upon by the 
15 



170 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

Greeks as barbarians. King Amyntas consented to become the 
vassal of Darius, and a banquet was given to the Persian envoys ; 
but their indecent and outrageous conduct roused the indignation 
of Alexander, the king's son, to such a degree, that he caused them 
all to be murdered in the banquet hall. No notice was ever taken 
of this occurrence either by Megabazus or by Darius. 

3. In the meantime, Histiaeus founded in his Thracian princi- 
pality a town called Myrcinus, and was collecting the elements of a 
power which roused the suspicion of Megabazus. The latter com- 
municated his apprehensions to Darius, who at once resolved to 
make Histiaeus harmless, and, pretending that he wished to consult 
him, invited him to come to Sardes, where he was then residing. 
When he arrived, the king professed great friendship for him, 
declaring that he could not live without him, and took him to Susa, 
where he was to share his table and counsels. Histiaeus accord- 
ingly was kept in splendid captivity. The generals of Darius mean- 
while completed the subjugation of the Greek cities in the north of 
the iEgean, and the islands of Imbros and Lemnos, so that about 
the year B. C. 505, all the nations from the banks of the Indus to 
the borders of Thessaly were subject to the king of Persia. 

Meantime events were occurring in Naxos which were destined 
to become the source of a conflict between the colossal empire of 
Persia and the little states of Greece. The aristocratic party of the 
island of Naxos, being driven into exile by the democrats, solicited 
the aid of Aristagorus, tyrant of Miletus, and he, considering this 
a favourable opportunity for making himself master of the island, 
applied for assistance to Artaphernes, who had been appointed 
satrap of western Asia. Aristagoras represented the conquest of 
Naxos as an easy matter, and promised to defray all the expenses. 
A fleet of two hundred ships, commanded by a Persian admiral, 
was placed at his disposal, and having taken on board his own 
Ionian army, he sailed out. But a quarrel soon arose between 
Aristagoras and the admiral; and the latter, determined to thwart 
the Greek tyrant, warned the Naxians of their danger. The Nax- 
ians accordingly made most vigorous preparations to defend them- 
selves, so that when they were besieged, the enemy was unable to 
make any progress. His means were soon exhausted, and in B. c. 
501, he was obliged to return to Miletus without having eficeted 
anything. As he was unable to make good his promise to the 
Persian satrap, he was a ruined man, and saw no help for himself 
except in revolution. While pondering over this, he received a 
secret message frum Histiaeus, who likewise saw no means of 
escaping from his cajjtivity except by an insurrection of his coun- 
trymen. Aristagoras now assembled his most trustworthy friends 
whom he knew to be discontented with the rule of the barbarians, 
to deliberate upon a plan of action. Hecataeus, the historian, dis- 



INSURRECTION OF THE lONIANS. 171 

Buaded them from it, but war was resolved upon, though the con- 
spirators did not possess the means of carrying it on. In order to 
win the favour of the popular party, Aristagoras not only resigned 
his own tyrannis, but seized the otlier tyrants of the Asiatic cities 
who were stationed with the Persian fleet off Myus, B. C. 500. 

4. Aristagoras now resolved also to apply to the Greeks in 
Europe to support their kinsmen in their attempt to shake oif the 
Persian yoke. He first went to Sparta, with a map of the world 
engraven on a brass plate, to persuade king Cleomenes of the feasi- 
bility of his scheme. The money which he promised as the price 
for the assistance, was on the point of producing the desired effect, 
when the king, warned by his little daughter, declined to have any- 
thing to do with the matter. Aristagoras then proceeded to Athens, 
where his solicitations on behalf of oppressed Grreeks were not made 
in vain, for they already knew that the Persian monarch had it in 
contemplation to re-impose upon them their exiled tyrant Hippias. 
A decree accordingly was readily passed by the people of Athens to 
send a squadron of twenty ships to support the insurrection of their 
Ionian kinsmen in Asia. This squadron sailed in B. c. 499, accom- 
panied by five galleys from Eretria in Euboea. After landing at 
Ephesus, the Athenians, strengthened by a large number of lonians, 
straightway marched against Sardes. The Persian satrap took 
refuge in the strong citadel, and the lower city was plundered and 
set on fire. Satisfied with this achievement, and unable to take the 
citadel, the Greeks returned to Ephesus. But being pursued by 
the whole force which the Persian satrap had been able to muster, 
they were overtaken and beaten in a battle near Ephesus. The 
lonians then dispersed, and the Athenians and Eretriaus returned 
home. 

5. When Darius was informed of these things, his rage knew no 
bounds; but he was more indignant at the obscure strangers who 
had dared to attack his dominions than at the lonians themselves, 
and he charged one of his attendants daily to remind him of the 
Athenians. His first care, however, was to quell the insurrection 
of the lonians, which was spreading farther and farther. The cun- 
ning Histiaeus obtained leave to go to Ionia, under the promise that 
he would soon put down the rebels. The lonians in the meantime 
induced Byzantium and the other Greek cities in the north to assert 
their independence, and Caria and the island of Cyprus followed 
their example. The Persian generals were no less active in ci'ush- 
ing the revolt. The cities on the Propontis and in Caria were 
reduced by Daurises, and Cyprus was overpowered by a Phoenician 
fleet. When this was accomplished, the Persians directed all their 
forces against the Ionian and ^olian cities. When Clazomenae 
and Cuma had fallen, Aristagoras, having lost all hope of success, 
went to Myrcinus in Thrace, where soon after his reckless career 



172 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

wag cut short while he was besieging a Thracian town with a band 
of lonians. Meanwhile Histiaeus arrived at Sardes, and it being 
hinted to him by the satrap Artaphernes, that he had had a hand 
in the revolt, he thought it advisable to make his escape to Chios. 
He would gladly have put himself at the head of the Greeks, but 
he was generally suspected and distrusted. He found himself a 
homeless adventurer, and withdrew to Lesbos, where he was more 
successful ; he collected a small fleet, with which he sailed to Byzan- 
tium, and seized all the merchant-vessels of the cities which refused 
to recognise him as the sovereign of Ionia. 

6. The insurrection of Ionia was in the meantime drawing to a 
crisis. Every effort was made against Miletus. A large fleet was 
brought together, consisting of sis hundred ships. The fleet of the 
lonians, amounting to three hundred and fifty-three triremes, was 
stationed near the little island of Lade, for the confederates had 
resolved to leave Miletus to defend himself. The Persians, not- 
withstanding their superiority in numbers, did not venture to attack 
the lonians at sea, and had recourse to some unsuccessful strata- 
gems. The lonians, however, were careless, and this irritated some 
of those who saw the necessity of maintaining better discipline, to 
such a degree, that they made secret overtures to the enemy. 
When, therefore, the Persians at last made the attack, the Samians 
first withdrew from the fight, and their example was followed by 
others. Some of the Greeks, however, fought to the last, but their 
defeat was complete. This happened in B. c. 494, and the disaster 
was soon followed by the fall of Miletus; in the following year the 
other Ionian cities, and those in the north of the -tEgean, likewise 
succumbed, and were treated with the utmost rigour. The terror 
which preceded the Persians everywhere induced the inhabitants 
of Byzantium and Chalcedon to quit their homes and found a new 
one at Mesembria, on the coast of the Euxine. Miltiades, who 
had been living on his large estates in the Thracian Chersonesua 
ever since the return of Darius from Scythia, also felt unsafe, and 
returned to Athens. 

7. After the reduction of the Greek cities, they were made to 
feel the Persian yoke much more severely than before, and all tracis 
of independence were effaced. Order and peace were restored at 
the expense of liberty; but still the cities in that happy climate 
soon revived and recovered from their calamities. Mardonius, the 
king's son-in-law, on being sent to succeed Artaphernes. allayed the 
discontent of the Greeks by deposing the tyrants who had been set 
up by his predecessor, and by restoring the democratic form of 
government. But at the same time he was accompanied by a large 
armament to chastise Athens and Eretria for their presumption, and 
to spread the terror of the king's name in Europe. A large fleet 
was to sweep the ^gean, while Mardonius himself led an array by 



BATTLE OP MARATHON. 173 

land through Thrace into Greece. The fleet was overtaken by a 
violent storm off mount Athos, and no less than three hundred 
ships and twenty thousand men are said to have been lost on that 
occasion. The land army was not much more fortunate, for one 
night the camp was attacked by a Thracian tribe, and the loss sus- 
tained was so great that Mardonius thought it prudent to return to 
Asia, B. c. 492. 

8. But the determination of Darius was not shaken by these dis- 
asters ; he renewed his preparations, and sent heralds to the prin- 
cipal cities of Greece to demand the customary signs of submission. 
Both at Athens and at Sparta these envoys were put to death, but 
many other cities, and ^gina with the other islands,, complied with 
the demand of the barbarians. The Athenians, still hostile to the 
^ginetans, sent ambassadors to Sparta to charge ^gina with high 
treason against the cause of Greece. Cleomenes, king of Sparta, 
advanced with a force against the j^^ginetans, who, being fright- 
ened, delivered up to him ten of their leading men, who were sent 
as hostages to Athens. The ^ginetans retaliated, and a succession 
of acts of hostility continued to be committed from time to time by 
both states, while the Persians were making their preparations for 
invading Europe. In B. c. 490, a fleet of six hundred galleys with 
transports were assembled in Cilicia under the command of Datis 
and Ai'taphernes, ready to take the army on board. The fleet 
crossed the ^gean, subdued Naxos and the other Cyclades, and 
then sailed towards Euboea, taking in reinforcements from the 
islands during its progress. Eretria sent to Athens for succour 
against the impending danger, and the four thousand Athenians 
settled in Euboea were charged to defend that city ; but as the 
Eretrians themselves were not agreed as to how to act, th.e Athenians 
returned to Attica. After the fall of Carystus, which had refused 
to admit the enemy, Eretria was besieged. Some traitors in the 
city opened the gates to the Persians, who plundered the temples, 
and then set fire to the place. The inhabitants were made prisoners, 
and afterwards transported to Asia as slaves. After this, the whole 
fleet sailed towards the coast of Attica. 

9. Guided by the exiled tyrant Hippias, who had urged the Per- 
sians to this expedition against his own country, the army landed 
on the plain of Marathon, which is about five miles in length, and 
two in breadth. No sooner did the Athenians hear of the enemy's 
arrival, than they miai bed out to meet them, all serviceable citizens, 
and even slaves willing- to earn their liberty, being armed. The 
Plataeans, the brothers and allies of the Athenians, obeyed the sum- 
mons of Athens without delay. At the same time a messenger 
was despatched to Sparta in all haste, to give information of the 
danger, and request assistance. But the Spartans, not being them- 
selves exposed to immediate peril, and having moreover some 

15* 



174 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

religious scruples as to setting out about the time of the new moon, 
dismissed the messenger with promises of future succour. The 
Athenians, however, undismayed by this want of ready sympathy 
on the part of the leading state of Greece, resolved to attack the 
invaders. They were commanded, as usual, by ten generals, one 
of whom was Miltiades, who had recently returned from Chersone- 
sus, but Callimachus as polemarch was at their head. The generals 
were divided in their 0{)inions as to whether battle should be given 
to the Persians at once, or whether they should wait for the arrival 
of the Lacedaemonians. Miltiades, seeing the danger of delay, and 
fearing treachery, as Hippias had still some friends in the city, 
urged the necessity of attacking the enemy at once, and his col- 
leagues gave way to his arguments. Accordingly, when the com- 
mand came round to Miltiades, he drew up the little army in order 
of battle on a rising ground. At the signal of attack, they rushed 
on the enemy, who received them with scorn and contempt, as men 
hurrying to certain destruction. But before they were aware of it, 
the Persians found themselves engaged in close combat, and, owing 
to the skilful management of JMiltiadcs, they were completely 
defeated. In the greatest confusion and disorder the barbarians 
rushed to their ships, but many perished in the marshes on the 
coast, and in their attempts to embark. The Persian fleet with the 
survivors then steered towards Sunion, to attack Attica on the 
opposite side, but they were prevented by the prompt movements 
of the Athenians, who arrived on the western coast before the Per- 
sians, and the latter, seeing that they had miscalculated, returned 
to Asia, without making any further attempts a<z:aiust the Greeks. 
So ended the great day of Marathon, in August B. c. 490. 

10. The battle of Marathon was always looked upon by the 
Athenians as their most glorious achievement, and well might they 
be proud of it; for. a small band of patriots had routed and defeated 
a countless host of barbarians, and thereby secured the independence 
of Greece and Europe. But what they had actually accomplished, 
was so much magnified in their heated imaginations, that in the 
subsequent reports about it, it became something altogether incredi- 
ble and impossible. Athens, however, to whom the glory of this 
victory belonged almost exclusively, now for the first time became 
aware of her own strength. The Persian forces are said to have 
amounted to six hundred thousand men, while those of the Athe- 
nians and Plataeans are estimated at ten thousand; upwards of six 
thousand of the enemy lay on the field of battle, while the Athe- 
nians had lost only one hundred and ninety-two, but among them 
was Callimachus, the polemarch. The place where this glorious 
battle was fought is still marked by a tumulus, under which the 
Athenians are said to have been buried. The absence of the 
Spartans on the day of the battle was an event of incalculable 



M I L T T A D E S . 175 

moment. They arrived after the battle was over with a force of 
only two thousand men, and having inspected the field strewed with 
the dead, they returned borne, apparently feelino; themselves that 
they had not done their duty towards their country. 

11. Very soon after the battle of Marathon, Miltiades, somewhat 
elated by his success, requested a fleet of seventy sail, promising 
his fellow-citizens to increase their dominions. With this force, 
which was readily granted, he first sailed to Pares, where he had a 
private enemy. But the Parians repelled his attacks, and having 
received a wound in his knee, he returned to Athens without having 
accomplished anything. Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, brought 
an action against him for having led the people into useless ex- 
penses, and as public feeling was against him, he was sentenced to 
pay a fine of fifty talents. Being unable to raise this sum at once, 
he was thrown into prison, and soon after died of his wound. This 
verdict against their great commander has brought much censure 
upon the Athenians, but there are indications which seem to show 
that he had acted with disregard or even contempt of the laws of 
his country ; and if so, the sentence pronounced against him, though 
severe, was not unjust. 

12. The battle of Marathon ought to have taught the Persians a 
lesson which they stood much in need of; but instead of this, their 
anger was doubly inflamed, and thinking that his forces had been 
insufiicient, Darius resolved to make the Athenians feel the whole 
weight of his arm. For three years preparations were made through- 
out his empire, and everything was furnished in abundance ; but in 
the fourth an insurrection broke out in Egypt, and before he had 
made the necessary arrangements for its suppression, he died, B. c. 
486. He was succeeded by Xerxes (b. c. 485—465), the favourite 
son of his favourite wife, who was urged by his friends and advisers 
to renew the enterprise, which, he was told, had failed only through 
mischance, and not through the inability of the Persians. Mardo- 
nius was foremost among these advisers, and he was eagerly sup- 
ported by treacherous Greeks, who had gone to Susaforthe purpose 
of accomplishing their selfish ends. A fresh invasion of Greece 
accordingly was resolved upon ; but before proceeding, Xerxes had to 
reduce Egypt, which was eff"ected in the second year of his reign. 
After this, the whole of Asia was ransacked for a period of four 
years, and all available resources of his empire were collected to be 
turned against Greece. To facilitate the progress of the army and 
fleet, a bridge of boats was thrown across the Hellespont, and a 
canal dug through the low isthmus which connects mount Athos 
with the mainland, in order to avoid the dangerous doubling of that 
promontory, where the fleet of Mardonius had been destroyed. 

13. When all this was completed, Xerxes in the spring cf B. c. 
480 set out from Sardes with an army consisting of nations of all 



176 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

colours, costumes, arms, and languages. When they had crossed 
the Hellespont at Abydos, they proceeded from Sestos up the Cher- 
sonesus towards Doriscos, where the whole motley host was reviewed ; 
it is said to have consisted of one million seven hundred thousand 
foot and eighty thousand horse. The fleet, which had arrived off 
the coast of the same place, numbered one thousand two hundred 
and seven triremes and three thousand smaller vessels. From Do- 
riscos the army, accompanied by the fleet, marched along the coast 
through Thrace and Macedonia towards the south. 

The Greeks had at first been slow in making preparations for the 
common danger, but when it became known what Xerxes was doing, 
the leading states and those breathing the same spirit of indepen- 
dence began to feel that their safety depended upon union. But 
unanimity was a thing diiBcult to attain in Greece. The people of 
Thessaly were obliged by the ruling family of the Aleuadae to yield 
when the Persians demanded of them earth and water, and their 
example was followed by all the tribes between them and mount 
Qiita. The Phocians refused compliance with the demand, but the 
Dorians and Boeotians yielded ; Thespiae and Plataeae alone re- 
mained faithful to the cause of Greece. Selfishness and pusilla- 
nimity thus prevented a coalition among the northern Greeks. 
The Peloponnesians, so far as the influence of Sparta reached, were 
unanimous, but Argos and Achaia, from enmity towards Sparta, 
resolved to remain neutral. Athens and Sparta, however, exerted 
all their power to meet the impending danger. The leading man 
at Athens, and the soul of all her counsels, was Themistocles, whose 
object was to make Athens great and powerful, that he himself 
might move and command in a large sphere. He was most distin- 
guished for extraordinary quickness of perception as to what was 
the real state of affairs at any given time, and what was required 
therein to ensure a definite end. But by his side stood Aristides, 
a man somewhat older than he, and who had already reached the 
height of popularity by his extraordinary honesty and disinterested- 
ness, which procured him the honourable surname of the Just. He, 
like Themistocles, to whom he was inferior in abilities, had the wel- 
fare of his country at heart, but simply and singly, not as a means, 
but as an end. Men like these could not but come into frequent 
collision, and by the contrivance of Themistocles Aristides was sent 
by ostracism into honourable exile, B. C. 483. By the removal of 
his rival, Themistocles was left in the undivided possession of the 
popular favour. He saw the necessity for Athens to enlarge her 
naval force, and prevailed upon the people to devote the profits 
they had hitherto derived from the silver mines of Laurion to the 
increase of their navy. The Athenians thus raised their fleet to the 
number of two hundred ships, and became a maritime people, for 
■which nature had in fact destined them by the situation of their city. 



BATTLE or ARTEMISIUM. 177 

14. Even before Xerxes Lad left iVsia, the Greek states favour- 
able to the cause of independence had held a congress on the isth- 
mus of Corinth, with the view of bringing about a union ; but they 
met with little or no success. Envoys were even sent to Gelo, 
tyrant of Syracuse, who promised his support, if the Greeks would 
intrust to him the command of all their forces. This embassy had 
probably been sent, because it was known that Xerxes had insti- 
gated the Cai'thaginians, through his Phoenician subjects, to attack 
the Greek cities in Sicily. The proposal of Gelo, however, was 
rejected. Meanwhile Themistocles did all he could, not only to 
allay animosity and silence disputes among the Greeks, but also to 
brace the energy of his fellow-citizens. The enthusiasm thus in- 
fused into the friends of liberty is clear from the fact that the 
Greeks assembled at Corinth, bound themselves by an oath to con- 
secrate to the god at Delphi a tenth of the substance of every Greek 
people, which had surrendered to the Persians without being com- 
pelled by necessity. It was also resolved at the congress that the 
progress of the Persians should be opposed at the pass of Thermo- 
pylae, whither a small body of Peloponnesians was sent at once ; and 
that the fleet should guard the northern entrance of the Euboean 
channel. The whole fleet consisted of two hundred and seventy- 
one triremes, of which Athens furnished by far the greater part. 
The Spartan Eurybiades had the command of the fleet. 

15. When the Persian armada in its course southward came near 
cape Sepias, it was overtaken by a storm, which burst upon it with 
irresistible fury, and lasted for three days and three nights. The 
coast for many miles was covered with wrecks and corpses; four 
hundred ships and innumerable lives were lost, and the remainder 
of the fleet took shelter in the gulf of Pagasae. The Greeks, 
rejoiced at this disaster of the enemy, returned to their station at 
Artemisium, which during the first alarm they had abandoned, and 
at once captured fifteen of the enemy's ships, which had been de- 
tained. But when it became known that the loss of the Persians, 
great as it was, was scarcely felt by them, the Greeks again began 
to despond, and Themistocles had great difliculty in keeping the 
fleet together. At length, however, when the Persians had sus- 
tained another loss from a storm, the Greeks took courage and 
boldly sailed out to attack the enemy. A small squadron of 
Cilician vessels was taken and destroyed. This led to a general 
engagement, in which the unwieldy armament of the Persians was 
thrown into confusion and sustained great loss. But one half of 
the ships of the Greeks were likewise disabled, and they now 
resolved to retreat, partly on this account, and partly on account of 
tidings which had just reached them from Thermopylae. 

16. The small band of Peloponnesians whicli had been sent to 
bar the progress of the Persians in the pass of Thermopylae was 



178 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

commanded by the Spartan king Leonidas. It consisted of three 
hundred Spartans, five hundred Tegeatans, and about two thousand 
from other Peloponnesian cities; and these had been joined by one 
thousand Phocians and seven hundred Thespians. It was believed 
that this force was sufficient to prevent the enemy from making his 
way through the pass — it being unknown that there was a path 
across the mountain by which the pass could be evaded. But 
when its existence was discovered, Leonidas sent the Phocians to 
occupy the heights. When the Greeks became aware of the count- 
less hosts by which their small force was to be assailed, Leonidas 
could scarcely keep his men together, and he sent envoys to the 
south to ask for speedy reinforcements. Xerxes, who had hoped to 
scare them by his mere presence, was astonished when he heard that 
they were awaiting his attack in all composure. After a few days 
he ordered his men to bring the Greeks captive before him ; but 
attack after attack proved fruitless, and the slaughter on the side 
of the barbarians was great. Xerxes began to despair of success, 
when the path across the mountain was betrayed to him by a base 
Greek of the name of Ephialtes. A detachment of the king's 
troops accordingly followed the infamous traitor up the mountain. 
The Phocians, unable to drive the enemy back, retreated, and the 
barbarians, unconcerned about them, pursued their course. When 
the Greeks in the pass heard what had happened, Leonidas declared 
for himself and his Spartans the determination to defend his post 
to the last, but allowed those of his allies who wished to save them- 
selves to withdraw. All availed themselves of this permission 
except the Thespians and four hundred Thebans. When the de- 
tachment guided by Ephialtes arrived at the southern entrance of 
the pass, the Spartans were at once attacked on both sides. 
Leonidas, knowing his hopeless condition, sallied forth, determined 
to sell his life and those of his countrymen as dearly as possible. 
Four times the Persians were driven back, until at length the 
Spartans being surrounded on a hillock, were all slain. Leonidas 
had fallen at an early part of the day; all were subsequently buried 
on the spot where they had fallen, and an inscription on their tomb 
bade the passenger go to Sparta and tell their countrymen that they 
had fallen in obedience to the laws of their country. The battle 
of Thermopylae was fought in the summer of B. c. 480, and the 
Persians are said to have lost there no less than twenty thousand 
men. 

17. Xerxes having now gained the entrance into Greece, advanced 
through Doris against Phocis, whose inhabitants took refuge in the 
mountains. The Persians poured undistinguishing ruin upon every- 
thing that came in their way. The main body of their army pro- 
ceeded through Boeotia against Attica, while a small detachment 
was sent to strip the temple of Delphi of its treasures. The 



ATHENS ABANDONED. 179 

Delphians had left their city to the protection of Apollo, who in the 
hour of danger did not forsake it. For when the barbarians 
advanced, a fearful thunderstorm is said to have burst upon them, 
and huge rocks falling from the precipices of Parnassus to have 
crushed many; and the Persians, terror-stricken, retraced their 
steps, and were pursued by the Delphians with unresisted slaughter. 
The Athenians had hoped that the Peloponnesians would throw au 
army into Boeotia for the protection of Attica, but it soon became 
evident that they were bent upon defending only the entrance to 
Peloponnesus, and leaving Attica to its fate. The Athenians asked 
the Delphic god for advice, and the priestess, probably at the sug- 
gestion of Themistocles, told them that they must defend themselves 
behind their wooden walls. Themistocles, of course, had no diffi- 
culty in explaining the mysterious import of the oracle, and con- 
vinced them that they must rely for safety upon their navy. This 
being approved of, the Athenians begged their allies to sail with 
them from Artemisium to Salamis, there to provide for the safety of 
their wives and children, and deliberate upon their mode of action. 

18. Meanwhile the Persians advanced through Boeotia towards 
Athens, Thespiae and Plataeae being reduced to ashes, while all the 
other Boeotian towns admitted Persian garrisons, the Athenians, by 
the advice of Themistocles, abandoned their city to the protection 
of its tutelary divinity, and transported their families and movable 
property to Salamis, ^gina, and Troezen, where they were received 
with great kindness. A few men only remained in the Acropolis. 
The Greek fleet, assembled at Salamis with its recent reinforcements, 
amounted to three hundred and eighty ships. In their council of 
war the Greeks were almost unanimous that the fleet should quit 
Salamis, and move nearer the isthmus, where it might co-operate 
with the Peloponnesian ai"my. While these consultations were 
going on, it was announced that Xerxes had overrun Attica, and 
that he was spreading desolation over the whole country. The 
lower city was taken and destroyed, and the small band in the 
Acropolis was overpowered by surprise. The temples were then 
plundered, and the whole Acropolis set on fire. These terrible 
occurrences greatly alarmed the commanders of the Greek fleet, and 
there seemed little prospect of their remaining united at Salamis; 
but Themistocles was now more than ever convinced that the only 
hope of safety consisted in their meeting and engaging the hostile 
fleet in the straits of Salamis. As his arguments had no efi"ect, he had 
recourse to threats, declaring that if the allies persisted in their 
design, the Athenians would sail away with their families and all 
their property, and seek a new home in Italy. These words pro- 
duced the desired effect. 

19. But as there was still danger lest the Peloponnesians should 
change their minds, Themistocles, assuming the mask of a traitor to 



180 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

his country, sent a trusty slave to the Persian ndaiiral with the 
message that the Greeks were on the point of fieeinjx and dispersing, 
and that, if he attacked them at once, this would ensure a complete 
and easy victory, whereas, if he allowed them to disperse, he would 
have to fight against them one by one. This advice, agreeing as 
it did with the wishes of the Persians themselves, was followed at 
once. In the night the Persian fleet blocked up the narrow chan- 
nels by which Salamis is separated from Attica and Megara. When 
the morning dawned, the whole sea was seen covered with the 
enemy's ships, and the Attic coast lined with troops, while Xerxes 
himself intended to view the great naval engagement from a lofty 
throne erected on a height. As soon as the gigantic fleet had 
entered the narrow channels, and was pent up in such a manner 
that movements and evolutions were utterly impossible, the Greeks 
attacked them. The damage done by the Persian ships to one an- 
other during the confusion which soon ensued was almost as great 
as that inflicted by the valiant Greeks with their nimble triremes. 
The event of the battle was in reality decided at the first onset; 
but the fight continued all day, until towards evening the remainder 
of the hostile fleet withdrew towards Phaleron, whither the Greeks 
did not pursue them. This glorious victory was completed by 
Aristides, who though in exile bad joined the fleet of his country 
in the hour of danger. The barbarians are said to have lost on 
that day five hundred ships, and the Greeks only forty. Xerxes, 
though he still had a sufficient force to renew the contest, felt that 
such another defeat would expose him to the greatest danger, and 
at once resolved to retreat. In this resolution he was confirmed by 
Mardonius, who told him that the land army was still unconquered, 
and asked for three hundred thousand men, with whom he promised 
to subjugate the whole of Greece. Xerxes, satisfied with the pro- 
posal, made preparations for his return across the Hellespont. 

20. As the hostile fleet quitted the Saronic gulf, and sailed north- 
ward, many of the Greeks bui-ned with the desire of pursuing the 
enemy; but Eurybiades thought this dangerous, and even Themis- 
tocles gave way to his remonstrances. As the enemy's fleet had 
already advanced as far as the Cyclades, the Greeks contented 
themselves with chastising those islanders who had supported the 
Persians. It is even said that Themistocles hurried the king's 
flight, by sending a messenger to inform him that the Greeks 
meditated breaking down the bridge which had been constructed 
across the Hellespont ; and that Xerxes, terrified by this information, 
made with all possible speed for the Hellespont. Mardonius accom- 
panied his master as far as Thessaly, where he himself intended to 
take up his winter quarters. The sufTcrings which the king's army 
had to endure during this retreat were terrible, and when he arrived 
at Sestos, he found the bridge destroyed by the waves, but the fleet 



BATTLE OF PLATAEAE, 181 

was in readiness to carry him and the wreck of his army across to 
Abydos. Several of the Greek towns in the north of the ^Egean 
now shook off the Persian yoke, though the king's generals made 
every effort to prevent it. Themistocles continued his proceedings 
among the Cyclades, where he tarnished his fame by accepting large 
bribes, with which some of the islanders purchased their impunity. 
But the praise of his wisdom and prudence, nevertheless, now re- 
sounded through all Greece, and even the Spartans bestowed on him 
the same honours as upon their own admiral Eurybiades. 

At the same time when the battle of Salamis was fought, the 
Sicilian Greeks gained a most memorable victory over the Cartha- 
ginians at Himera, where they fought against an army of three 
hundred thousand men, commanded by Hamilcar. 

21. Shortly after the battle of Salamis the Athenians returned 
to Attica to rebuild their homes and cultivate their fields, and in the 
following spring they made active preparations, for they knew that 
Mardonius was in Thessaly, and a Persian fleet of three hundred sail 
was still in the ^gean to watch the movements of the lonians, 
whom the Persians could not trust. Mardonius, who had by this 
time become convinced of his difficulties, formed the plan of de- 
taching Athens from the interest of the other Greeks, and engaged 
Alexander of Macedonia to negotiate a peace and alliance between 
Athens and Persia. But the manly answer of the Athenians, that, 
so long as the sun held on its course, Athens would never become the 
ally of Persia, at once destroyed the hopes of Mardonius and the 
fears of the other Greeks. Mardonius now set out without delay to 
make himself master of Athens, and the treacherous Thessalians 
and Boeotians displayed great zeal in the service of the barbarians. 
When he arrived at Athens, he found nothing but the deserted 
walls, for the inhabitants seeing that no aid could be expected from 
the Peloponnesians, notwithstanding their many promises, had with- 
drawn with their families to Salamis, B. C. 479. Mardonius now 
renewed his proposals of peace, but with no better success than 
before. The Spartans were in the mean time only busied about 
protecting themselves in their peninsula, by fortifying the isthmus 
of Corinth. Complaints and even threats were resorted to by the 
Athenians, Megarians, and Plataeans, when at length the ephors 
ordered Pausanias, the guardian of the young king Pleistarchus, to lead 
an army of five thousand Spartans, each attended by seven Helots, into 
Boeotia. Mardonius, not being inclined to fight a battle in Attica, 
threw himself into Boeotia, where he hoped to be supported by the 
Thebans and other Boeotians ; but before leaving Attica he destroyed 
everything which had been left untouched during the previous in- 
vasion. He pitched his camp in Boeotia, between Erythrae and the 
river Asopus, expecting that Pausanias would give him battle there. 
22. Pausanias on his march northwards was sti'engthened by rein- 
16 



182 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

forcements from the Peloponnesians, and an army of the Athenians 
couimanded by Aristides. The whole force, amounting, it is said, to 
one hundred and ten thousand men, encamped near Erythrae, at the 
foot of mount Cythaeron. In a first engagement the Greeks were 
successful against the cavalry of the Persians, but for the sake of 
greater safety Pausanias descended into the territory of Plataeae, 
which still lay in ruins. Mardonius advanced against him with all 
his forces, but for ten days the armies faced each other without 
coming to any engagement, the signs in the sacrifices being unfavour- 
able, when at It-ngth Mardonius resolved to wait no longer. In the 
night before the battle, Alexander of Macedonia rode up to the 
Athenians, inf >rmed them of the determination of the enemy, and 
exhorted them to keep their ground. Pausanias made his arrange- 
ments accordingly. IMardonius, mistaking the enemy's movements 
for signs of fear, attacked them with great vehemence, and the 
Greeks were thrown into an unfavourable position. In the following 
night, therefore, they moved off towards a more convenient place, 
close to Plataeae. Mardonius again imagining that his opponents 
had taken to flight, attacked them without delay. He and his Per- 
sians fought bravely; but he was mortally wounded, and his fall 
decided the issue of the battle. The Persians and all the other 
barbarians gave way at once. Artabazus, who commanded forty 
thousand men, now came up to reinforce the Persian army, but 
finding that it was too late, he returned through Phocis hoping to 
reach the Hellespont. The Greek auxiliaries of the Persians im- 
mediately dispersed, the Thebans alone continuing to fight against 
the Athenians, while the survivors of the barbarians shut themselves 
up within their camp. The Athenians were the first to break into 
it, and the Asiatics having lost all hope of defending themselves 
successfully, allowed themselves to be slaughtered without a struggle, 
like sheep in a fold. Out of the whole multitude of barbarians only 
three thousand are said to have escaped from the carnage. The 
booty and the treasures found in the camp were immense, and 
Pausanias ordered the Helots to collect them, that both gods and 
men might receive their due share. A tenth part was dedicated in 
the form of tripods and statues to Apollo, Zeus, Poseidon, and 
Athena; and a magnificent present was selected for Pausanias, to 
whom the glory of the victory of Plataeae was justly ascribed. 

23. Artabazus, after the loss of many men from famine and 
through the attacks of the Thracians, reached Asia in safety; and 
Alexander of Macedonia was rewarded for his services with the 
Athenian franchise. Greece was now completely and finally 
delivered from the Persian invaders. The Greeks before quitting 
Boeotia, endeavoured, under the direction of Aristides, to secure 
for the future unity among their countrymen against foreign aggres- 
sion, and resolved upon carrying out the threat against those Greeks 



BATTLE OF MYCALE. 183 

Vfh.0 had supported the Persians. The Thcbans had forfeited every 
chum to leniency, but it was nevertheless agreed to punish only 
the guilty few and not the whole population. The army accord- 
ingly appeared before the gates of Thebes, demanding the surrender 
of the traitors to their country. As the demand was refused, the 
city was blockaded for twenty days, after which the offenders them- 
selves consented to be delivered up. Most of them were carried 
off by Pausanias, and put to death by him without any trial. 

24. On the same day on which the Persians were defeated at 
Plataeae, they also suffered a severe blow on the coast of Asia. 
The Greek fleet, commanded by the Spartan king Leofychides, was 
stationed at Delos watching the movements of the enemy, when 
envoys from Samos solicited its aid against their own tyrant, who 
was a zealous supporter of Persia. Leotychides accordingly sailed 
to Samos. The Persian fleet, instead of protecting the tyrant, 
withdrew towards the mainland to seek the assistance of the land 
army of sixty thousand men, which was stationed near mount 
Mycale to keep Ionia in subjection. The Persian ships accordingly 
were drawu up on the beach, and protected as well as they could 
be in the hurry. The Greeks, seeing the fear of their enemies, 
resolved to cross over from Samos, give them battle, and issue a 
proclamation to the lonians, calling upon them to remember their 
liberty. At the same time a rumour reached the Greeks of a 
victory gained by their countrymen in Boeotia over Mardonius, and 
this report at once roused their courage and confidence. The Per- 
sians were drawn up at the foot of mount Mycale. The Athenians 
and Spartans made the attack and drove the enemy into the enclo- 
sure surrounding their ships ; but when the barbarians found that 
the pursuers had entered the enclosure with them, they betook 
themselves to the mountain passes, and the Persians themselves, 
after maintaining the contest for a while, were completely routed. 
The Samians and the other lonians joined the Greeks as soon as 
they were able, and the carnage among the Asiatics was fearful. 
A few only escaped to Sardes, where Xerxes was still watching the 
course of events, and the Greeks, after collecting the booty and 
burning the ships of the enemy, returned to Samos. 

25. As Europe and the islands of the ^gean were now safe, it 
only remained to be decided in what way the lonians should be 
permanently protected against their oppressors • it was resolved to 
return to Europe, and to leave the lonians to make the best terms 
they could with Persia for themselves. Xantbippus, the father of 
Pericles, however, wished to recover the principality of Miltiades in 
Chersoiiesus, and as the Spartans had no interest in this matter, it 
was left to the Athenians alone, while Leotychides and the Pelopon- 
nesians sailed home. Xantbippus and the Athenians laid siege to 
Sestos, where many Persians of rank had sought refuge. The 



184 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

fortress was very strong, but Xanthippus would not give up the 
enterprise, and blockaded the place durincc the winter, until in the 
spring of B. c. 478 famine induced the Persians to try to make their 
escape by night. Many of them, however, were overtaken and put 
to death, and the Greek inhabitants of Sestos opened their gates' 
to the Athenians. After this Xanthippus and his fleet also sailed 
home. 

26. On their arrival, the Athenians found their country a wasted 
land, and their city a heap of ruins. The restoration of the private 
dwellings was left to their owners, who rebuilt them as well as they 
could under the circumstances, and without any system or plan ; 
the rebuilding of the temples was left for another season, the 
thoughts of Themistocles and Aristides being engaged in providing 
for the immediate security and permanent strength of the city. 
The walls of Athens were restored and extended; but this was 
viewed by her allies with fear and jealousy, for they seem to have 
forgotten what she had suffered and what she had done for their 
common liberty. Envoys, accordingly, were sent from Sparta, who, 
under the disguise of friendship, advised them not to fortify their 
city, as it would only strengthen any invading enemy, adding that 
Peloponnesus would always be a sufficient refuge for all Greeks. 
Themistocles, who saw through their selfish and jealous scheme, 
deceived the Spartans, and carried on the work of fortification with 
increased activity; and when at length the city was sufficiently 
strong, Themistocles, who had himself gone to Sparta, bade them 
in future treat the Athenians as reasonable men, who knew what 
was due to their own safety as well as to Greece. The Spartans, 
with their usual skill, disguised their vexation, and the fortifica- 
tions of Athens were quietly completed. When this was done, 
Themistocles, who thoroughly understood the vocation of Athens, 
proposed to fortify its three harbours of Phaleron, Munychia, and 
Piraeus, by a double range of walls, for hitherto Athens had used 
only Phaleron as its port. At the same time, a plan was formed 
of making Piraeus a port town ; the success was complete, and 
Piraeus became the seat of numerous merchants and tradesmen of 
every description, especially aliens who settled there under the pro- 
tection of Athens. 

27. Athens was now strong, and conscious of her position and 
power. In the spring of B. c. 477, the allied fleet, commanded by 
Pausanias, again put to sea, the contingent of the Athenians being 
under the command of Aristides and Cimon, the son of Miltiades. 
They first sailed to Cyprus, which they wrested from the hands of 
the Persians; then, having proceeded to the north, they laid siege 
to Byzantium, which was still occupied by the Persians, but was 
soon taken. The mind of Pausanias seems to have become per- 
verted by the victories he had gained, for he now adopted the 



SUPREMACY OF ATHENS. 185 

manners of the barbarians, and began to treat his allies with a 
haughtiness as if they were his subjects; his ambition was un- 
bounded, and he was blind to the dangers to which he exposed 
himself. In this state of mind he formed the scheme of betraying 
Greece into the hands of the Persians, in the hope that he might 
be made the ruler of his country, as a vassal nf the great king. 
He accordingly made overtures to this eflect to Xerxes, asking for 
his reward the hand of the king's daughter. Xerxes eagerly caught 
at the proposal, and Pausanias, on discovering this, no longer dis- 
sembled his intentions, but at once assumed the pomp and state of 
a Persian satrap. The lonians soon found that the treatment they 
experienced from him was no better than from the Persians. The 
conduct of the Athenian generals, on the other hand, was all the 
more winning, from its contrast to that of the Spartans; and hence 
the allies began to consider how much happier they would be under 
the comiiiand of Aristides and Cimon. The wish gradually ripened 
into a resolution, and all the allies, with the exception of those 
from Peloponnesus and ^^gina, offered to Athens the supremacy in 
all their common affairs. Aristides, to whose wise conduct his 
country owed her present proud position, now undertook the task 
of regulating the laws of the confederacy, and of its relation to 
Athens as its head. The great object was to protect the Greeks 
against the barbarians, and to weaken and humble the latter as 
much as possible. All were to contribute towards this common 
end, and Athens, as the organ of the public will, was to collect and 
direct their forces. Each separate state, however, was to remain 
perfectly independent in its own affairs. A common fund was 
established from annual contributions, Delos was chosen as the 
treasury of the confederates, and in its temple of Apollo the depu- 
ties of the several states were to hold their meetings. 

28. Through the folly and treachery of one man, Sparta had lost 
a position which it had maintained for centuries. Pausanias was 
recalled, but it was too late, and the new generals who were sent 
out had to be content with a subordinate rank. Sparta, unable to 
brook this, withdrew from the scene of action, leaving her rival tri- 
umphant. She still remained, however, the head of her Pelopon- 
nesian allies, who now rallied all the more closely around her, so 
that henceforth Greece is divided between two great confederacies. 
The supi'emacy of Athens lasted until the end of the Peloponne- 
sian war, B. C. 404. But before proceeding to describe the glorious 
career upon which she now entered so honourably, we shall briefly 
notice the later occurrences in the lives of the men who had 
brought about this great change. 

29. Aristides, whose last and noblest work was the regulation of 
the Athenian confederacy, was also the author of some important 
reforms in the political constitution of his native country, for he is 

16* 



186 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

said to have opened the archonship and the council of the Areo- 
pagus to all Athenian citizens, irrespective of any property qualifica- 
tion. Such a change had become necessary by the course of events. 
Aristides died in the full enjoyment of the confidence which his 
countrymen had placed in him throughout his life. 

Pausanias, after his recall to Sparta, was subjected to a severe 
inquiry, but as no satisfactory evidence of his treacherous designs 
was produced, the accusation was dropped. Without leave from 
the ephors he went to Byzantium, and there renewed his criminal 
intrigues so openly, that they reached the ears of the authorities at 
home. He was summoned to return, and, though tried again, he 
could not be convicted, and was restored to liberty. He now planned 
an insurrection of the Helots, hoping, with the aid of Persia, to 
rise to the head of the state ; at the same time he continued his 
correspondence with Persia, until one of the messengers entrusted 
with a letter, found that he, like all his predecessors, was to be put 
to death in Asia to prevent his divulging the scheme. His fear 
and resentment were roused, and he revealed the whole affair to the 
ephors ; but they, not satisfied even with this, contrived, by a cun- 
ning device, to hear the truth from Pausanias' own lips. The 
ephors then tried to arrest him ; but he fled into a temple of 
Athena, and as they feared to pollute the sanctuary with his blood, 
the roof was taken off and the entrance walled up. In this condi- 
tion he was left until he was on the point of expiring. He was 
then carried out of the temple, and expired as soon as he had 
crossed the bounds of the sacred ground. But although he had 
not died in the temple, still the minds of the Spartans were often 
disturbed by religious scruples. 

30. The fate of Pausanias involved that of Themistocles. He 
too had become proud and indiscreet, but never acted the part of a 
traitor to his country. When his selfishness and avarice became 
known, numerous enemies rose against him at home, and he was 
gradually supplanted in the popular favour by younger men. Under 
these circumstances it was not diificult to persuade the Athenians 
that his presence was dangerous to the liberty of the state, and he 
was exiled by ostracism. He withdrew to Argos, where he was 
residing in B. 0. 471, when Pausanias was convicted. The Spartaus 
had never forgiven Themistocles for the manner in which he had 
eluded their scheme of preventing the fortification of Athens ; it 
was now said that the inquiry into the crime of Pausanias had led 
to discoveries showing that Themistocles also had been implicated 
in the plot; and it was demanded that the Athenians should punish 
him as the accomplice of the Spartan. Although no evidence 
whatever was then, or ever after, produced of his guilt, his enemies 
at Athens rejoiced at the opportunity, and ofiicefs were forthwith 
sent out to arrest him. Themistocles, foreseeing this, had fled to 



SUPREMACY OF ATHENS. 187 

Corcyra, and thence to Epirus, where he was protected in the house 
of king Adnietus. Being supplied with all necessaries by his host_ 
he proceeded to Pydna, and there eraburked for Ephesus, which he 
reached not without danger. Very soon after his arrival in Asia 
Xerxes died, B. C. 465, and was succeeded by Artaxerxes. The- 
mistocles went to the king's court, and in a letter endeavoured to 
persuade him that he had claims upon his gratitude, and that his 
present misfortunes were the consequence of his zeal for the interest 
of Persia. This scheme succeeded, and Themistocles won the fa- 
vour of Artaxerxes to such a degree, that even the courtiers are 
said to have envied him. After some time the king sent him to 
Asia Minor, assigning to him three flourishing towns for his main- 
tenance, Magnesia having to provide him with bread, Myus with 
viands, and Lampsacus with wine. He thus spent the latter part 
of his life at Magnesia in princely splendour. He is generally said 
to have made away with himself, because he had promised the king 
more than he was able to perform ; but this account is at least 
doubtful. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE SUPREMACY OF ATHENS DOWN TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF 
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 

1. As all fear of Greece being again invaded by the Persians 
was now removed, the Greeks, who had hitherto acted mainly on 
the defensive, resolved to assume the offensive; and the situation 
of their colonies in Asia offered a fair pretext for this. Cimon of 
Athens, the son of Miltiades, was foremost in directing the atten- 
tion of his countrymen to that quarter. He had no particular talent 
as an orator or statesman, but had given early proofs of ability on 
the field of battle. He moreover belonged to the aristocratic party, 
though he did not disdain to employ the means of a demagogue for 
the purpose of gaining popularity. He first distinguished himself 
in the battle of Salamis, and many then began to look upon him as 
a worthy rival of Themistocles. While the popularity of the latter 
was on the decline, Cimon was rapidly rising in popular favour in 
consequence of several successful enterprises, such as the capture 
of Eion on the Strymon, in B. c. 476, the reduction of Scyros for 
the Amphictions, and that of Carystos in Euboea. But the con- 
quest of Naxos, in B. c. 466, was a far more important event. That 
island began to repent of its alliance with Athens, and the latter 
then exacted by force what was no longer cheerfully given. The 



188 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

Naxiiins were reduced by Cimon after a hard siege, and having be- 
come the subjects of Athens instead of its allies, they were treated 
with a severity which they could scarcely have expected from 
Persia. But their example did not deter others from attempting to 
get rid of the Athenian alliance ; one state revolted after another, 
and all were punished with the loss of their independence. Many 
also commuted their personal services in the endless expeditions for 
stated payments in money, and by this means lost their warlike 
spirit, while Athens acquired more and more power over those who 
were nominally her free allies. But their feeling of discontent 
arose from their notion that the time of danger was passed, and 
that they needed no further protection. 

2. In the year B. c. 465, a large Persian fleet of about three hun- 
dred and fifty sail was assembled at the mouth of the river Eury- 
medon, in Pamphylia. Cimon, who had increased the number of 
his ships to two hundred and fifty, provoked the enemy to an 
engagement, and gained a complete victory. Having sunk two 
hundred of the enemy's vessels, he sailed up the river, and also 
defeated the Persian land-army. On his return he met a squadron 
of eighty galleys which was intended to strengthen the Persian 
fleet, but was utterly destroyed by him. After this treble victory, 
he sailed northward, where he expelled the remnants of the Persian 
forces in the Thracian Chersonesus. About B. c. 464, the Athe- 
nians became involved in a contest with the island of Thasos, 
regarding the gold-mines in Thrace, which were claimed by Athens. 
The Thasians were first defeated at sea, and then closely besieged 
by Cimon. In this distress they applied to Sparta for assistance; 
and the Spartans delighted at the opportunity, were making prepa- 
rations for invading Attica, when suddenly, in B. c. 464, the whole 
of Laconia was shaken by an earthquake, during which immense 
blocks of stone rolled down from mount Taygetus, spreading terror 
and destruction all around. At Sparta itself only five houses were 
left standing, and upwards of twenty thousand persons were killed. 
Helots from all parts hastened to the city to take advantage of the 
misfortune of their masters, and it was only owing to the presence 
of mind of king Archidamus that the citizens were saved from the 
hand of revengeful slaves. But this was not all, for the Messe- 
nians also rose against their detested rulers, and fortified themselves 
at Ithome. The Thasians, who were thus left to themselves, be- 
came subjects of Athens, and the Spartans, being unable to reduce 
the revolted Messenians, did not blush to send for assistance to the 
Athenians, against whom they had just been planning an expedi- 
tion. But the aristocratic party, with Cimon at its head, happened 
just then to be all-powerful at Athens, and as that party was at all 
times favourable to Sparta, Cimon himself was sent with a large 
force to besiesje Ithome. But when the Athenians made no greater 



CIMON AND PERICLES. 189 

progress than the Spartans had made before, the latter, judging of 
others by themselves, began to suspect Cimon, and dismissed him 
and his army. The Athenians, understanding the real motive, 
were exasperated in the highest degree, and all connection with 
Sparta being broken off, an alliance was entered into with Argos, 
her ancient rival and enemy. The Messenian war was in the 
meantime carried on until B. C. 455, when the brave defenders of 
their libei'ty surrendered, on condition of leaving Peloponnesus 
with their families for ever. The Athenians kindly gave to the 
unfortunate Messenians the town of Naupactus, where they settled, 
waiting for a day of retribution. 

3. The democratic party at Athens was then headed by a most 
promising young man, Pewcles, the son of Xanthippus, and a de- 
scendant of Cleisthenes. lie had from his earliest days devoted 
himself to intellectual pursuits, and enjoyed the intimacy of the 
first men of the age; he had enriched his mind with all the stores 
at his command, that they might become instruments for managing 
the affairs of his country. During the period that Cimon was 
engaged in his military expeditions. Pericles had taken a prominent 
part in the discussions of the popular assembly, where his majestic 
appearance and his powerful eloquence, combined with his great 
wisdom and prudence, made him the acknowledged leader of the 
democracy and the most formidable opponent of Cimon. The latter 
had made munificent use of his wealth, and though opposed to the 
popular interest, he did everything which his ample means enabled 
him to do, to win the favour of the people, that he might use them 
as a means for his ends; for he and his brother nobles were bent 
upon retaining the few privileges they yet possessed, and of putting 
a stop to the progress of popular liberty. Pericles was not able to 
rival Cimon in his reckless liberality, and probably would have dis- 
dained it if he had had the means. He conceived that it was more 
honourable for the poorer classes to be supplied with the means of 
enjoyment out of their own, that is, the public funds, than to de- 
pend upon the liberality of wealthy individuals. "With this view he 
cai'ried a series of measures, partly himself and partly through his 
friends, the most prominent among whom was Ephialtes, a man of 
rigid integrity, earnestness, and fearlessness. Pericles' own conduct 
also wa,s such that though he courted the people, he yet, from never 
descending to low means, always retained the respect of the citizens, 

hough tVy might differ from him in their political views. 

4. The struggle between the aristocratic and democratic parties 
had been going on for some time, and on one occasion Cimon was 
in danger of being exiled; but the contest came to a head when 
Pericles and Ephialtes extended their reforms even to the Areopa- 
gus, the ancient stronghold of the aristocracy. The object of Peri- 
cles and his friends was to narrow the functions of the Areopagus 



190 HISTORYOFaREECE. 

SO much as to leave it Dothinir but its venerable name. The aris- 
tocracy left no means untried to thvrart their opponents ; but it for- 
tunately happened that at this very time the Athenians were slighted 
by the Spartans for their want of success against Ithome, and this 
made Cimon and the whole aristocracy extremely unpopular. 
Under these circumstances, Ephialtes without much difficulty carried 
•x decree by which the Areopagus seems to have been shorn of all 
its political power. Soon after this, Cimon was exiled by ostra- 
cism, probably for the purpose of preventing any popular outbreak 
in the city. 

5. About this time, B. c. 460, Inarus, king of some Libyan 
tribes in the west of Egypt, revolted against the Per.<ians, and his 
authority was acknowledged in his own country and in the greater 
part of Egypt, which joined him. Artaxerxes sent a large artny 
commanded by his own brother against the rebels. An Athenian 
fleet of two hundred sail happened at the time to be lying off Cyprus, 
and Inarus sent for its assistance. The armament immediately 
sailed southwards and enabled Inarus to defeat the Persians. The 
Athenian fleet then sailed up the Nile as far as Memphis, which 
was besieged, as a portion of the city was in the hands of the Per- 
sians. This siege lasted more than five years; and the Athenians, 
being in the end pressed by a very numerot:is army, were not only 
obliged to raise the siege, but were themselves surrounded by the 
enemy on an island in the Nile. All of them perished except a 
few who escaped to Cyrene and thence returned home. Inarus 
himself fell into the hands of the Persians, and was put to death 
B.C. 455. 

6. Owing to the rupture with Sparta, Athens lost the friendship 
of the Corinthians, but for this she was indemnified in some mea- 
sure by gaining possession of Megara. This, however, roused the 
enmity not only of Corinth, but of ^gina and the maritime towns 
of Argolis, and war was declared in B. C. 457, while the Athenian 
armament was still in Egypt. But the Athenians with most un- 
daunted courage attacked their enemies and defeated them in 
several engagements. Myronidcs was then at the head of the 
Athenian forces, and gained a most complete victory, in which 
every Corinthian soldier perished. During this war between Co- 
rinth and Athens, Artaxerxes sent an envoy to Sparta, endeavour- 
ing to induce the Spartans by bribes to attack the Athenians, in 
order to compel them to withdraw their forces from Egyp£. Sparta 
was then still engaged against Ithome, and could not comply with 
the king's request, but Pericles, apprehensive of danger, completed 
the long walls connecting Athens with its port-town, which had 
been commenced some time before. He well knew that there was 
a party in the city ready at any moment to sacrifice their country, 
if thereby they hoped to recover any of their lost privileges This 



CIMON AND PERICLES. 191 

became evident during an expedition of the Spartans against the 
Phocians, when the former were preparing to strike a blow at 
Athens, and the oligarchical faction in the city promised them their 
co-operation. But the scheme was suspected and thwarted, though 
in the battle which was fought near Tanagra in Boeotia, B. c. 457, 
the Athenians were defeated in consequence of the treacherous 
conduct of the Thessalians, who were allied with them. This defeat 
was keenly felt by the Athenians, and hence in the following year, 
B. C. 456, they took the field again under the command of Myronides, 
who at that time was the soul of all their military undertakings. 
This time their arms were successful, and at OCnophyta they gained 
a complete victory over the Boeotians, and razed the walls of 
Tanagra to the ground. Henceforth their influence predominated 
both in Phocis and in Boeotia, and soon after ^gina also capitu- 
lated, and became subject to Athens. 

7. The news of the disaster of the Athenians in Egypt does not 
seem in the least to have discouraged their fellow-citizens at home, 
who continued the war against Sparta and her allies as vigorously 
as before. Landings and ravages were made on the coasts of 
Peloponnesus, both in B. c. 455 and 454, though no great advan- 
tages were gained. In the year B. c. 453 Cimon was recalled from 
exile, on the proposal of Pericles himself, who had probably become 
convinced of the necessity for all good citizens to co-operate against 
the schemes of the unprincipled oligarchical faction, which would 
have delivered Athens into the hands of a foreign enemy in prefer- 
ence to seeing the democratic party prosperous. About that time 
the honest Ephialtes was assassinated by aristocratic emissaries; 
and it was this and similar occurrences that suggested to Pericles 
the desirableness of forming a coalition with Cimon. The result 
was as had been anticipated, fn- during the three years after 
Cimon's return Greece was in the enjoyment of peace ; and this 
pause was followed by a truce of five years, during which Cimon 
undertook his last expedition against the Persians. 

8. In Egypt, another pretender, Amyrtaeus, had arisen in the 
meantime, and, like liis predecessor, solicited aid from Athens. The 
Athenians complied with the request, and Cimon, with a fleet of 
two hundred galleys, sailed to Cyprus. Thence he sent a squadron 
to Amyrtaeus, while he himself laid siege to Citium. He died 
there in b. c. 449, and his army was soon after compelled to raise 
the siege from want of provisions. On their return home, the 
Athenians fell in with a large fleet of Phoenician and Cilician 
galleys, and having completely defeated them, they followed up 
this victory by another which they gained on shore. Soon after 
this, they were joined by the squadron from Egypt, which had 
accomplished its main object there, and all sailed home. In later 
times, it was generally believed that, during his last campaign, 



192 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

Cimon had compelled the king of Persia to accept a peace, which 
oblip;ed him to abandon the military occupation of Asia Minor to 
the distance of three days' journey from the western coast. But 
subsequent events show that such an arrangement did not exist, 
and the whole story about the peace of Cimon is probably a fabri- 
cation originating in the vanity of the later Greeks. 

9. The peace of Greece was again disturbed in the year after 
Cimon's death, B. c. 448, by a quarrel between the Delphians and 
Phocians about the guardianship of the Delphic temple and its 
treasures, which was wrested by the Phocians from their opponents, 
to whom it had belonged from time immemorial. A spartan army 
recovered for the Delphians what they had lost, and several privileges 
were conferred at Delphi on the Spartans. But no sooner had the 
Spartan forces withdrawn, than Pericles advanced with an Athenian 
army, and undid their work. In the year following, the ascendancy 
of the Athenians in Boeotia was broken by a revolution, in which 
the party hostile to Athens completely gained the upper hand. 
The consequences of this soon became manifest on every side, for 
in B. c. 445, when the five years' truce expired, Euboea revolted; 
and no sooner had Pericles crossed over to quell the insurrection, 
than he was informed that another had broken out at Megara, and 
that most of the soldiers of the Athenian garrison had been put to 
death ; at the same time, he learned that a Peloponnesian army was 
on its march against Attica. Pericles, therefore, returned, and 
found the Peloponnesians already I'avaging the plains of his country ; 
but, by means of bribes, he prevailed upon the Spartan commanders 
to give up their undertaking. Having thus got rid of this enemy, 
he returned with a large force to Euboea, and soon overpowered all 
resistance. But notwithstanding this success, the people of Athens 
were disposed to make peace. The Spartans also did not feel 
inclined to continue the war; and accordingly, a truce was concluded 
for thirty years, in B. c. 445, by which the Athenians were required 
to give up all their possessions in Peloponnesus — that is, Troezen, 
the ports of Pegae, and Nisaea — and their connection with Achaia. 
After these concessions, Athens still remained mistress of the sea, 
and her maritime empire was untouched. The aristocracy, now 
headed by Thucydides, had opposed this truce, but Pericles bore 
down all opposition, for his influence at Athens was now greater 
than ever, and remained so till the last day of his life. 

10. During this time, Pericles was enabled to carry out his views 
into action. Throughout his life he had mainly two objects; first, 
to extend and strengthen the Athenian empire ; and secondly, to 
raise the confidence and self-respect of his countrymen to a level 
with their lofty position. The Athenian confederacy had under- 
gone considerable changes since its regulation by Aristides ; and 
even in his lifetime the treasury had been transferred from Delos 



REDUCTION OF SAM OS. 193 

to Athens. Cimou had altcrwards reduced the weaker states of the 
league to a defenceless condition, so that little remained to be done 
to change the confederacy into an empire, over which Athens ruled 
with almost despotic power. Pericles raised the annual tribute 
from four hundred and sixty to six hundred talents. All the sub- 
ject states had a democratic form of government imposed upon 
them, whether they liked it or not ; but what was worse than all, 
was the fact that all important trials were transferred from the cog- 
nizance of the local courts to the tribunals at Athens, which caused 
to the allies the greatest inconvenience and annoyance. 

11. In B. C. 440, an event occurred which seemed likely to inter- 
rupt the truce, but in reality consolidated the Athenian empire, 
and gave Pericles an opportunity of displaying his brilliant qualities 
as a military commander. The island of Samos had an aristocratic 
form of government, which the popular party were anxious to over- 
throw with the aid of Athens. Pericles was sent with a squadron 
of forty galleys to assist the popular party. On his arrival, he 
established a democratic form of government, and took one hundred 
members of the aristocracy, who were sent to Lemnos as hostages. 
Leaving only a small garrison behind, he returned home. During 
his absence, some of the nobles entered into negotiations with the 
Persians, and with an army of mercenaries overpowered the Athenian 
garrison, restored the old form of government, and having also 
rescued the hostages, they openly renounced their connection with 
Athens. Sparta and her allies were applied to for assistance, but 
to no purpose, for they were not inclined to break the truce. As 
soon as these proceedings became known at Athens, Pericles again 
set out with his fleet; he soon drove the Samians into their town, 
and surrounded it with entrenchments. As he expected the ap- 
proach of a Phoenician fleet which was said to be on its way, he 
sailed out to meet it ; but it did not make its appearance. During 
his absence, the Samians gained considerable advantages, but his 
return changed the aspect of things. They were obliged to confine 
themselves to the defensive ; and after the war had lasted nine 
months, they were compelled by famine to capitulate, and become 
subjects of Athens. Byzantium, which had sided with Samos, was 
soon afterwards reduced to the same condition. 

12. Pericles on his return was received at Athens with extraor- 
dinary honours, and the whole success was ascribed to him. The 
conquest of Samos completed and consolidated the Athenian empire, 
over which Athens henceforth ruled without opposition and with- 
out restraint. The Athenians were now in a condition, by means 
of colonies in places where they seemed to be useful, both to 
strengthen themselves and to provide for the poorer classes. Settlers 
accordingly were sent to Oreos in Euboea, to Naxos, and Andros, 
and colonies were established at Amphipolis and Thurii. To this 
17 



194 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

last colony, whicli was founded in b. c. 443, the Athenians invited 
foreio;ners from all parts of Greece, and among them were the his- 
torian Herodotus and the orator Lysias. Every Athenian citizen 
at this time must have felt his position raised, and Pericles endea- 
voured to enhance the value of the franchise, by rigorously exclud- 
ing all those who were not entitled to its exercise ; at the same 
time he took care to provide useful employment for those who had 
little or no means of subsistence, partly by sending out every year 
a squadron of sixty galleys, in which the men were trained, and 
partly by the great architectural works which he planned for the 
defence and embellishment of the city. Among these woi'ks we may 
mention a third wall connecting the city with Piraeus, which ran 
between the two already completed ; the temples which crowned 
the Acropolis, the most magniliceut of which were the Parthenon 
or Virgin's temple, adorned by the sculptures of Phidias, and the 
splendid approach to it called Propylaea. These and many other 
works gave employment to the genius of the artist as well as to the 
skill of the artisans; and during that period of extraordinary 
activity, there must have been a comparative scarcity of hands at 
Athens. 

13. But not only upon architectural works and their embellish- 
ment did Pericles spend the public treasures; he also devoted a 
considerable portion to spectacles and amusements of the people. 
A taste for them had always existed, and Pericles made them acces- 
sible to all, poor as well as rich. In this way the poorer classes 
were provided out of the public funds with the means of attending 
the theatre, and taking part in other public festivals. In like 
manner he introduced the practice of paying the jurors for their 
attendance in the courts of justice. These regulations, at first quite 
harmless, and perhaps no more than fair and just, afterwards 
became very detrimental to the welfare of the state, especially when 
the payments were increased to twice or thrice the original amount. 
Pericles is also said, though erroneously, to have introduced the 
payment for attendance in the popular assembly, which we after- 
wards find established. 

14. The period during which I*cricles guided the Athenians is 
justly called after him the age of Pericles, and forms the most 
brilliant epoch in Athenian history. Down to the time of the 
Persian wars, Athens did less for the intellectual and artistic pro- 
gress of Greece than many other cities both in Europe and Asia ; 
but her peaceful glories quickly followed, and outshone those of her 
victories and conquests. Literature and the arts were now culti- 
vated there with greater success and rewarded with more distin- 
guished honours than anywhere else. Architecture and sculpture 
rose to the highest perfection, and Athens enriched literature with 
the drama, the highest and noblest of all poetical compositions. 



^SCHYLUS AND SOPHOCLES. 196 

The draraa grew out of the Doric clioral poetry, whence the chorus 
continued for a long time to form a very prominent part in it. At 
the time when it reached its highest point, lyric poetry was gradu- 
ally dying away, and Simonides of Cos, Bacchylides, and Pindar, 
were the last, and at the same time the greatest among the lyric 
poets of Greece. The greatest dramatists, at least in tragedy, 
belonged to the age of Pericles. Phrynichus, the first, whose works 
have perished, is highly praised by the ancients ; and even ^'Eschy- 
lus spoke of him as a worthy rival. But the way in which 
Jilschylus developed and displayed the capabilities of the art, enti- 
tles him to be regarded as the father of Attic tragedy. He intro- 
duced the dialogue, and thereby raised the really dramatic portion 
of the composition to the principal rank, while the choral part 
became subordinate to it. He always exhibited three tragedies 
together, which were indeed distinct, but in reality constituted only 
one great drama, called a trilogy. Out of seventy pieces ascribed 
to him, seven only have been preserved, and among them tljere is 
only one complete trilogy, the Oresteia. 

_ 15. Sophocles, a younger contemporary of ^^schylus, surpassed 
him in the general harmony of his conceptions, in the equal distri- 
bution of grace and vigour, and in the unsurpassed charm of his 
language ; though in some respects ^Eschylus was perhaps a genius 
of a higher order. He was held in the greatest estimation by the 
Athenians, and the Antigone, one of his seven extant dramas, filled 
them with such admiration, that they appointed him, in B. C. 440, 
one of the generals who accompanied Pericles in the war against 
Samos. He himself, however, experienced the mutability of popu- 
lar taste, when he saw himself supplanted by Euripides, a poet of a 
much lower order. Attic tragedy in the hands of these three great 
masters of the art was not an idle amusement, but a means em- 
ployed for religious, moral, and sometimes even for political pur- 
poses; this, however, was the case more especially with comedy, 
for while tragedy took its subjects from the mythical history of 
Greece, the sphere of comedy lay within the walks of daily life, and 
its main business was with the immediate present, whence it sup- 
plied in some respects the place which is occupied in modern times 
by a free press. All theatrical performances were connected with 
the celebration of the festivals of Dionysus, under whose protection 
the comic poets enjoyed unbounded freedom and license. With 
this power the comic poets assailed every kind of vice and folly, if t. 
it was sufiiciently notorious to render their ridicule intelligible, and 
men in the highest positions did not esc;ipe this kind of castigation. 
Comedy was raised to its highest- perfection during the period of the 
Peloponnesian war by the genius of Aristophanes. 

16. The mere fact of Pericles possessing unbounded influence 
with the people, and being their acknowledged leader, could not 



19G HISTORY OF GREECE. 

fail to call forth envy, jealousy, and hatred; and suspicions were 
raised and circulated not only regarding his private life, which 
indeed presented some vulnerable points, but also in reference to his 
public actions. The first attacks, however, were not made directly 
against himself, but against his friends, through whom his enemies 
hoped to wound' him. First of all, Phidias was charged with having 
embezzled a portion of the gold destined to be employed in his 
magnificent statue of Athena in the Parthenon. Fortunately the 
gold had been applied in such a manner that it could be taken 
down and weighed, and this circumstance silenced the accusers, 
when called upon to prove their assertion. Another attack upon 
the artist, for having introduced his own portrait among the figures 
on the shield of the goddess, was more successful. Phidias was 
thrown into prison for impiety, and died there. Having gained 
their object in this matter, the enemies of Pericles began their 
manoeuvres against Aspasia, the most beautiful and accomplished 
woman at ^itbens, in whose safety the great statesman felt as much 
concern as in his own. His most intimate friends were the most 
illustrious philosophers of the time, whose creed certainly was very 
different from the superstition of the multitude. These and other 
circumstances furnished materials for a prosecution against Pericles. 
But all machinations failed, and their failure at length induced his 
enemies to drop their proceedings. Pericles, with one brief inter- 
ruption, never again saw himself assailed in his high position, which 
he maintained down to the end of his life. We cannot indeed 
wonder that both ancient and modern historians have brought 
charges against him; but a closer examination shows that they are 
based upon nothing but vulgar gossip and scandal, which are always 
ready and glad to detract from real and genuine greatness. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 

1. The prosperity of Athens, and her ever-increasing power and 
glory, could not but excite the hatred and alarm of the other Grreek 
states, and especially of Sparta, which saw itself humbled in propor- 
tion as Athens rose. While the former and her allies were united 
in their jealousy of Athens, the Athenian confederacy could not be 
entirely relied upon, for many of the allies submitted only with great 
reluctance to their mistress, who seemed, and in many instances 
actually was, more concerned about her own aggrandisement than 



AFFAIRS OF CORCYRA. 197 

about the welfare of those whom she professed to protect. But 
there were other ingredients which increased the hostile feelings 
between Athens and Sparta : Athens was the representative of the 
Ionian race, and everywhere introduced or supported a democratic 
form of government, while Sparta, the representative of the Dorians, 
favoured aristocratic or oligai'chic institutions. These feelings and 
animosities were the real causes of the Peloponnesian war, which 
for twenty-seven years disturbed the peace of the whole Greek 
world, and terminated" in the downfall of Athens. Both parties 
seem to have been aware of what such a war would lead to, and 
avoided its outbreak as long as they could, until at length several 
circumstances concurred which made the continuance of peace a 
matter of impossibility. 

2. Epidamnus, a colony of Corcyra, on the coast of Illyricum, 
was at that time distracted by internal feuds, during which the 
aristocratic party was expelled from the city. With the assistance 
of the neighbouring barbarians, the exiled nobles pressed the town 
closely. The Epidamnians applied for succour to their mother city 
of Corcyra, and as the Corcyraeans did not listen to the request, the 
Epidamnians addressed themselves to Corinth, the mother-city of 
Corcyra, which had likewise taken a part in the establishment of 
the colony of Epidamnus. Corinth gladly seized the occasion, 
because it afforded her an opportunity of curbing the spirit of Cor- 
cyra, which had become very powerful, and neglected the perform- 
ance of the ordinary duties of a colony towards the mother-city. A 
Corinthian army accordingly proceeded by land to Epidamnus, and 
the Corcyraeans, on being informed of this, went with a fleet to 
Epidamnus, demanding of its citizens to restore the exiles and to 
dismiss the Corinthian garrison. When this was refused, the Cor- 
cyraeans, joined by the exiles and others, blockaded Epidamnus by 
land and by sea. The Corinthians then sent out a large force to 
raise the siege of Epidamnus, and at the same time declared war 
against Corcyra. A naval engagement took place between the 
Corinthian and Corcyraean fleets near the mouth of the Ambracian 
gulf, in which the Corcyraeans gained a complete victory. On the 
same day, Epidamnus was obliged to surrender to the besiegers, 
who sold all its inhabitants as slaves, while the Corinthians were 
kept in captivity. This happened in B. c. 434. 

3. After this defeat, the Corinthians made great efforts to protect 
their own colonies on the Ionian sea, and to strengthen themselves 
for the continuation oi' the war, while the Corcyraeans, on the other 
hand, applied for assistance to Athens. Corinth also sent envoys 
to Athens to counteract their influence. The Athenians took the 
affair into serious consideration, and were at first inclined to side 
with Corinth, but afterwards concluded a defensive alliance with 
Corcyra for the protection of their respective territories. But at 

17* 



198 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

the same time they did not declare war against Corinth. In ac- 
cordance with this treaty of alliance, Athens sent ten galleys to 
Corcyra, with orders not to enpagc in any contest, unless Corcyra 
should be attacked. The Corinthian fleet of one hundred and fifty 
ships soon after fell in, near Sybota, with that of the Corcyraeans, 
which consisted of one hundred and ten, the Corcyraean land army 
being drawn up on the coast. In the ensuing sea fight, neither 
party gained a decisive victory. The ten Athenian galleys, however, 
seeing their allies hard pressed, took part in the contest. In the 
meantime, twenty more ships had come from Athens, and when 
they in conjunction with the Corcyraeans again offered battle, the 
Corinthians withdrew, merely charging the Athenians, through the 
mouth of a herald, with having violated the peace. These occur- 
rences belong to the year B. c. 432, and are the first acts of open 
hostility between Athens and Corinth. 

4. At the same time the Athenians were involved in a war with 
Perdiccas, king of JMacedonia, who tried to ally himself with Sparta 
and Corinth, and did all he could to induce the cities in the north 
of the ^gean to shake off" their alliance with Athens. Potidaea, 
one of those towns, was a colony of Corinth, and the Athenians, 
in order to be beforehand, ordered the Potidaeans to destroy their 
fortifications, to give hostages, and to dismiss the Corinthian magis- 
trates. As S]3arta had openly declared its determination to protect 
the Potidaeans, they were emboldened to assert their independence 
of Athens, and other towns in those parts followed their example. 
Meantime an Athenian fleet arrived to enforce the orders of the 
sovereign city; but the admiral Archestratus finding his armament 
too small to carry on the war against the revolted cities, sailed to 
the coast of Macedonia, and commenced hostilities against Per- 
diccas. The Corinthians now also sent one thousand men to sup- 
port Potidaea, and the Athenians despatched a second squadron, 
under the command of Callias, who, finding Archestratus engaged 
in the siege of Pydna, pi-evailed on him to make peace with Pei*- 
diccas, that they might be able to direct all their forces against the 
Corinthians and their friends. Accordingly they proceeded b}' land 
to Potidaea. On the isthmus near Olynthos they encountered 
their enemies and defeated them, notwithstanding the treacherous 
desertion of Perdiccas, B. C. 432. The Peloponnesians and Corin- 
thians, however, succeeded in throwing themselves into the town 
of Potidaea, which the Athenians forthwith began to besiege both 
by land and by sea. 

5. As it was evident that these disputes could not be easily set- 
tled, a congress of the Peloponnesian allies was summoned to Sparta, 
and all states which believed themselves to be wronged by Athens 
were invited to send deputies to the meeting. Many complaints 
were brought forward by iEgina and Megara, but above all by 



BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 199 

Corinth. Athenian envoys, who happened to be at Sparta on other 
business, manfully defended the conduct of their city. But war 
was decreed, notwithstanding the cautious advice of the Spartau 
kinp; Archidamus, who wished to settle the disputes by negotiation. 
This declaration of war belongs to B. c. 432, but the Spartans, with 
their usual slowness and caution, did not proceed to action at once, 
and a whole year passed away before they were ready to take tho 
field. In the meantime, however, they did all they could to justify 
the war in the eyes of Greece, and to show that its declaration was 
a matter of necessity rather than choice. Nay, Sparta went so far 
as to declare that she went for peace, and was prepared to keep it, 
if the Athenians would raise the siege of Potidaea, and make 
^gina and Megara independent. The Athenians, guided by 
Pericles, declared themselves willing to refer their differences to 
impartial judges, but added that they would always be ready to 
repel any attack. After this, no further negotiation was attempted. 

6. Before the general war commenced, an outrage was committed 
by the Thebans upon Plataeae, the ally of Athens, which, in the 
spring of B. c. 431, they surprised by night. But nearly all tlie 
invaders were taken prisoners by the Plataeans, and one hundred 
and eighty were put to death. Athens provided Plataeae with a 
military force to defend itself, and with supplies, at the same time 
inviting those who were unfit for service during the siege which 
was anticipated, to come to Athens. In the meantime, active pre- 
parations were made both by Sparta and Athens. The sympathies 
of most of the states of continental Greece were in favour of the 
Spartans, who declared themselves the champions of the liberty and 
independence of all the Greeks. But still all Greece looked for- 
ward with sad forebodings to the real outbreak of the war. The 
allies of Sparta included all the Peloponnesians except the Argives, 
who remained neutral ; beyond the Isthmus she was supported by 
Megara, Phocis, Locris, Boeotia, and the cities of Ambracia, Leucas, 
and Anactorium ; Sparta further courted the friendship of Persia, 
and called upon the Dorian colonies in Sicily and Italy for assist- 
ance. The allies of the Athenians, on the other hand, were Chios, 
Lesbos, Plataeae, the Messenians at Naupactus, the greater part of 
Aearnania, Zacynthos, and Corcyra, while they received tribute 
from the following towns and countries which were subject to them : 
• — Caria, the Dorian cities in Asia Minor, Ionia, the cities on the 
Hellespont, the coast of Thrace, all the islands between Pelopon- 
nesus and Crete, and the Cyclades, with the exception of Melos 
and Thera. All Greece was thus divided into two great hostile 
camps, only few states maintaining a position of neutrality. 

7. When all preparations were completed, king Archidamus as- 
sembled the Pelopounesian allies on the isthmus of Corinth, and in 
the summer of B. c. 431 invaded Attica. He confined himself, 



200 HISTORy OF GREECE. 

however, to the north about the town of Ginoe, so that the Ath6« 
nians, who maintained the defensive, had time to gather their 
movable property within the fortifications of the city. Archidamus 
then made attaclis upon several country towns, and ravaged the 
fields, for his object was to draw the Athenians out to battle. But 
Pericles was immovable, and with the greatest firmness adhered to 
the plan of operation he had once adopted. Archidamus, finding 
at last that he could not tempt his enemy, returned home and dis- 
banded his army. In the meantime, an Athenian fleet of one 
hundred galleys had been retaliating upon Peloponnesus, the coasts 
of which they ravaged; another squadron devastated the coast of 
Locris ; the ^ginetans were driven with their wives and children 
from their island, and the Athenian fleet in the western seas con- 
tinued its operations against the confederates of Sparta. The alli- 
ance which the Athenians in this year formed with the Thracian 
chief Sitacles, was of great service to them iu the war against the 
Chalcidian towns and Macedonia. Late in the autumn of the same 
year the Athenians, commanded by Pericles himself, made a 
ravaging incursion into Megara, which was afterwards repeated year 
after year, just as the Peloponnesians, during the flrst five years of 
the war, repeated their invasion of Attica, neither party being ap- 
parently inclined to bring the war to a close by a decisive battle. 
The war, however, was carried on during that period in several 
parts of Greece ; and on the whole, the Athenians had generally 
the advantage over their enemies. 

8. In the second year of the war, just when Archidamus had 
entered Attica early in the summer, Athens was visited by a fearful 
pestilence, which, with few interruptions, continued to rage for two 
years, and carried ofi" four thousand four hundred citizens, and no 
less than ten thousand slaves. The city was at the time overcrowded 
with country people and their cattle from all parts of Attica, and 
this state of things naturally aggravated the evil. The loss of lives 
was perhaps a minor calamity, compared with the moral efi'ects pro- 
duced by the plague ; for the people in their despair became reckless, 
and regardless of all laws, human and divine, thinking that, after 
all, their life was not safe for a single hour. The Lacedaemonians, 
notwithstanding this, ravaged Attica both in the north and in the 
south for a period of forty days, and then returned home. The 
Athenian fleet, as in the first year, made its ravaging tour round 
Peloponnesus ; another squadron destined for Potidaea was obliged 
to return, in consequence of the plague having broken out among 
the crew. Potidaea continued to be beseigcd until about the end of 
the second year of the war, when the inhabitants were compelled to 
surrender by famine. The fearful and deadly hatred which had 
already sprung up among the belligerents was displayed by the mer- 
ciless cruelty shown by the Spartans against inoffensive merchants, 



REVOLT OFLESBOS. 201 

who were invariably killed, unless tliey declared themselves in 
favour of Sparta; and Athens retaliated by murdering some Pel- 
oponnesian ambassadors who had been intercepted. 

The most memorable event of the third year of the war, B. C. 429, 
was the death of Pericles by the plague, which had previously 
bereft him of his children and dearest friends. The loss of Pericles 
at this time was irreparable, and the Athenians, to their cost, soon 
found out what he had been to them. His successors were men 
swayed by ambition, avarice, and envy. Pericles had ruled the 
democracy with a gentle, yet mighty hand ; but those who succeeded 
him courted the favour of the people by humouring its evil passions, 
and thus leading it to acts which, both morally and materially, 
undermined its power. Another remarkable event of the same year 
is the heroic and almost miraculous defence of the little town of 
Plataeae against the united efforts of the Peloponnesians; for this 
year Arcbidamus, instead of invading Attica, directed all his forces 
against Plataeae. In the end of the summer, he returned to Pel- 
oponnesus, but the siege of Plataeae lasted until b. c. 427, when, 
after the loss of half its defenders, the survivors were obliged to 
capitulate. By the desire of the Thebans, the most inveterate 
enemies of the Plataeans, they were butchered one by one, and all 
the women were made slaves. The town itself was afterwards razed 
to the ground. It is not known, though it may easily be conjectured, 
what circumstances prevented the Athenians from sending active 
support to their ancient and foithful allies. In the year in which 
Pericles died, no exploit of any consequence was performed on land, 
but Phormio, the commander of the fleet in the western sea, gained 
a complete victory over the Lacedaemonians, who had advanced to 
support the Ambi'acians in an attempt to conquer Acarnania. In a 
subsequent engagement near Naupactus, he was equally successful, 
and the Peloponncsian fleet retreated to Corinth. But, on the whole, 
the Athenians were unable, during this year, to make any great 
efforts abroad, in consequence of the loss of their great leader, and 
the continued ravages of the plague. 

9. The fourth year of the war, B. c. 428, began with the usual 
invasion of Attica by king Archidamus. The Athenians, also, still 
adhered to their former tactics, only preventing, by their cavalry, 
the enemy from approaching too near the city. The most important 
event of this year was the revolt of Lesbos, a wealthy and powerful 
island. There, as in other allied states, the aristocratic party was 
favourable to Sparta, while the popular party clung to the alliance 
with Athens. The city of Mytilene, which took the lead in the 
revolutionary movement, had sometime before made overtures to 
Sparts, which had been rejected. Information of the design, how- 
ever, was carried to Athens, and the Mytileneans were thus driven 
into open rebellion before they were sufficiently prepared. The 



202 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

Athenians at first endeavoured, by persuasion, to induce the islanders 
to remain faithful to them ; bnt as they failed, a fleet was dispatched 
against them, and hostilities were commenced. As the Mytileneans 
did not feel strong enough to engage in the contest, they, for the 
purpose of gaining time, concluded a truce with the Athenian ad- 
mirals, but at the same time sent envoys to solicit the support of 
Sparta. The people of Athens, however, refusing to negotiate with 
the rebels, ordered hostilities to be recommenced. The Spartans in 
the meantime admitted the Lesbians into the Peloponnesian league, 
and promised to protect them, for it was believed that Athens had 
fallen into a helpless condition. But they miscalculated, for Athens 
in that year had a more powerful navy than ever before, and took 
the greatest precautions in guarding Attica, Salamis, and Euboea. 
The Spartans had resolved to attack Athens, both by land and by 
sea ; but the promptness of the Athenians, whose fleet even threat- 
ened the safety of Sparta itself, compelled the enemy to relinquish 
their undertaking. It was, however, decreed that a fleet should be 
sent to the relief of Lesbos. In the meantime, the Athenians, 
under Paches, invested Mytilene both by land and by sea, and the 
promised fleet from Peloponnesus did not make its appearance until 
the year following, b. c. 427. In the beginning of this year, the 
Peleoponnesians, commanded by Cleomenes, again invaded Attica, 
and ravaged the country in all directions. Their stay was prolonged, 
in the expectation of receiving favourable tidings from Lesbos. But 
the Mytileneans had been forced to surrender before the Pelopon- 
nesian fleet arrived. Paches then became master of the island, and 
many of those who had favoured the revolt were first sent to Tenedos 
and then to Athens. The Peloponnesian fleet, after having made a 
descent upon the coast of Ionia, returned home, but was dispersed 
by a storm before it reached the coast of Peloponnesus. Paches 
remained in Lesbos for the purpose of regulating its affairs ; but it 
was for the people at home to decide what punishment was to be 
inflicted upon the Mytileneans. On the advice of the bloodthirsty 
Cleon, a leather-merchant, who was then the most popular man at 
Athens, it was decreed that all the men should be put to death, 
and the women and children sold as slaves. Orders to this eff'ect 
were imhiediately sent to Paches. But on the following day, the 
Athenian people, repenting of the bloody decree, reversed their 
previous resolution, and on the proposal of Diodotus, it was decreed 
that only the most guilty among the rebels should be put to death. 
A second ship was accordingly sent off" to prevent the execution of 
the first order, and it arrived just in time to save the unfortunate 
Mytileneans. One thousand of the leaders in the insurrection, 
however, were put to death, and Mytilene lost its ships and walls. 
Lesbos, instead of a free ally, now became subject to Athens. This 
year is also marked by a civil war between the aristocratic and 



LAST INVASION OF ATTICA. 203 

democratic parties in the island of Corcyra, which in cruelty and 
ferocity is scarcely equalled by any similar occurrence in ancient 
history, and in which the Corcyraeans destroyed their own pros- 
perity for ever. 

10. The same epidemic which in Greece set Dorians against 
lonians, and the nobles against the demos, had in the meantime 
also spread to Sicily, where Syracuse headed the Doric cities, wliile 
the Chalcidian or Ionian towns supported Leontiui, which was at 
war with Syracuse. The Leontine envoy Gorgias prevailed upon 
the Athenians to send a fleet to Sicily, which was intended partly 
to prevent supplies being conveyed from Sicily to Peloponnesus, 
and partly to try to reduce Sicily to a state of dependence upon 
Athens. This squadron was sent in B. C. 427, and took its station 
at Rhegium in the south of Italy, from which point it made some 
ravaging expeditions. 

11. In the beginning of the year 426 a Peloponnesian army 
again assembled on the Isthmus, but a succession of earthquakes 
terrified the Spartans so much that they abstained from entering 
Attica, and the Athenians being thus unmolested at home, Avere 
enabled to take the oifensive in several successful enterprises in 
Boeotia, Locris, and iEtolia. In Sicily, too, the Athenians made 
some progress, for they compelled the iowns of Mylae and Messene 
to surrender, and gained possession of a fortified place on the river 
Halex in southern Italy. In the following year, B. C. 425, the war 
between the Syracusans and the allies of Athens was continued, 
though the Athenians themselves took no active part in it. In 
Greece itself the campaign of this year was again opened by an 
invasion of Attica under King Agis, but bad tidings from Pelo- 
ponnesus obliged him to quit Attica, after a stay of only fifteen 
days. This invasion, the fifth, was the last that Sparta attempted. 
The news by which Agis was induced to return was, that Demos- 
thenes, a distinguished general of the Athenians, had gained a firm 
footing at Pylos in Messenia. Demosthenes had accompanied in a 
private capacity the fleet sailing to Corcyra, under the command of 
Sophocles and Eurymcdon, but had permission to land on the coasts 
of Peloponnesus and harass the enemy. Pylos was then a deserted 
place, but Demosthenes, perceiving the advantages of the position, 
resolved to fortify it and to establish himself in it. With the 
assistance of the fleet, which was obliged by stress of weather to 
take shelter in the excellent harbour of Pylos, the object was soon 
attained. The Spartans, who had at first looked on with indiffer- 
ence, became alarmed; tbe army was recalled from Attica, and 
attacks were made upon Pylos, but to no purpose ; for Demosthenes 
acted with great prudence, and was reinforced by runaway Helots 
and Messenians, as well as by a squadron of Athenian galleys. The 
Spartans then took possession of the uninhabited island of Sphac- 



204 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

teria, situated in front of the harbour, with a body of heavy-armed 
men commanded by Epitadas, with a view to block up the harbour. 
All attacks of the Lacedaemonians were repelled, and the Athenians 
then blockaded the Spartans shut up in Sphacteria, who would have 
been starved to death had they not been supplied with provisions 
by the desperate daring of some Helots, who thereby hoped to win 
their liberty. Under these circumstances Sparta would gladly have 
come to an understanding with Athens; but in the latter city Cleon 
had the popular ear, and the terms proposed were of such a nature 
that Sparta could not accept them. In the meantime the Athe- 
nians, who were besieged in the fortress of Pylos, likewise began 
to suffer from want of provisions, and the protracted siege in the 
end made the people at Athens repent of not having accepted the 
offers of Sparta. Cleon, however, with his usual energy and boast- 
fulness, went so far as to intimate, that if he had the command he 
would bring the Spartans from Sphacteria captive to Athens. Upon 
this the people, half in joke and half in earnest, appointed him 
commander. Cleon accordingly embarked, and on his arrival 
Demosthenes' skilful management and other circumstances had just 
brought the state of matters to a crisis. An attack was made upon 
the island on all sides, and with the aid of Messeniaus acquainted 
with the locality, and favoured by the accidental conflagration of a 
forest which had shortl}^ before covered the island with ashes, the 
Athenians drove the Spartans into a fort in a corner of Sphacteria, 
and then forced them to surrender at discretion. Of the original 
number of four hundred and twenty Spartans, two hundred and 
ninety still survived and were carried as prisoners to Athens. 
What Cleon had rashly promised was thus made good by accident. 

12. Pylos remained in the hands of the Athenians, who were 
joined by many jMessenians and Helots, and proved a source of 
great annoyance to Sparta. The Spartans made several attempts 
to recover their prisoners by negotiation, but the Athenians, elated 
with their success, made too exorbitant demands, and in the end 
declared that they would put all the prisoners to death, if the Pelo- 
ponnesians again invaded Attica. 

During the same year the Athenians were victorious also in other 
parts, especially in an undertaking conducted by Nicias against 
Corinth. In B. C. 424 they reached the highest point of their good 
fortune, and nothing seemed to check their unbounded spirit of 
enterprise. Among other conquests, they made themselves masters 
of the island of Cythera, a point of the greatest importance to 
Laconia. These events were extremely discouraging to the Spar- 
tans, and in their despondency they confined themselves to defend- 
ing the most important places, leaving the Athenians to continue 
their ravaging expeditions. While the Athenians were thus flushed 
with success and victory at home, the commanders of their fleet in 



BRASIDAS IN THE NORTH. 205 

Sicily concluded peace with the Sicilians without having made any 
conquest in those quarters. The Sicilians, under the wise guid- 
ance of Hermocrates, had come to the conviction that by fighting 
against one another, they were only weakening themselves and 
paving the way for foreign conquerors. A peace was accordingly 
concluded at a congress held in Gela, and the allies of the Athe- 
nians dismissed their friends because they no longer needed their 
assistance. The people at Athens were so ill satisfied with this 
that they punished some of the generals, on the alleged ground that 
they had been induced by bribes to quit Sicily. 

13. There had latterly been rising at Sparta a man not only dis- 
tinguished for his valour, but possessed of qualities which few 
Spartans ever displayed, either in public or in private life — genuine 
kindness and affability. This was Brasidasj he had already signa- 
lised himself during the siege of Pylos and elsewhere. He now 
checked the undertakings of the Athenians against Megara, com- 
pelled them to give up that city, and confine themselves to the 
port-town of Nisaea, whereupon an oligarchy was established at 
Megara. But this loss was insignificant in comparison with those 
which were to be inflicted on Athens by the same hand in the north 
of the ^gean, whither he was then proceeding. Before he exerted 
his influence there, however, the Athenians suff"ered a serious defeat 
in Boeotia, whither they had been invited by a party favourably 
disposed to them. The battle of Delium, a sanctuary of Apollo, 
cost the Athenians a loss of one thousand heavy-armed men, besides 
a large number of light-troops and others. This defeat was the 
most serious and the most bloody that the Athenians sustained 
during the first fourteen years of the war, but it was only the begin- 
ning of greater disasters. The Spartans resolved to transfer the 
seat of the war to Chalcidice and the coast of Thrace, hoping thereby 
to compel the Athenians to abandon Pylos and Cythera; and 
Brasidas was the man chosen to conduct the operations in that 
quarter. He proceeded to the north by land, and on reaching 
Macedonia he was joined at once by the fickle king Perdiccas. 
After spending some time in endeavouring to settle a dispute be- 
tween the king and Arrhibaeus, king of the Lyncestians, he ad- 
vanced to Chalcidice, and proclaimed himself the deliverer of the 
Greek towns from the yoke of the Athenians. His kindness and 
frankness won all hearts ; the name of the Lacedaemonians through 
him became popular among the Athenian allies, and many of them 
wished to become connected with Sparta. Acanthos and Stagiros 
at once revolted from Athens, and admitted Lacedaemonian garri- 
sons. During the ensuing winter he induced Amphipolis on the 
Strymon to surrender, but the historian Thucydides saved Eion at 
the mouth of the river for the Athenians. The surrender of Am- 
phipolis was followed by that of several smaller towns. Brasidas, 
18 



206 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

though ill supported by Sparta, was thus making rapid progress, 
while the Athenians undertook scarcely anything worthy of notice, 
so that the advantages they had gained in and about Peloponnesus 
were now counterbalanced by the conquests of Brasidas in the 
north. The Lacedaemonians, however, never lost sight of their 
fellow-citizens who were kept in captivity at Athens ; both parties. 
in fact were anxious to come to terms, and a truce was concluded 
at the beginning of the ninth year, B. c. 423. During this truce, 
which was to last for one year, negotiations for a permanent peace 
were to be conducted. 

14. When the terms of the peace were on the point of being 
settled, an event occurred in Chalcidice, which induced the Athen- 
ians to break off all negotiation, and commence hostilities against 
the revolted towns in that district. Brasidas, on his return from 
Macedonia, whither he had gone to assist Perdiccas a second time, 
found the Athenians engaged in active hostilities, and the truce was 
evidently broken in the north, though in Greece proper it continued 
to be observed, probably from the general desire for peace. While 
the Athenians were besieging Scione, Perdiccas again allied him- 
self with them, and prevented the passage of reinforcements which 
were on their way to Brasidas. In the beginning of B. C. 422, 
when the truce expired, Cleon undertook the command of the 
Athenian forces in the north, and proceeded to Scione, which was 
still besieged. He at once succeeded in taking Torone during the 
absence of Brasidas, and then sailed towards Amphipolis. There 
he was met by the Spartan commander, who had in the meantime 
received considerable reinforcements. As soon as Cleon saw that 
the enemy was ready to engage in a battle, he began to retreat; but 
Brasidas perceiving this fell upon the Athenians and soon routed 
them. Brasidas himself received a mortal wound while rushing 
against the enemy, and was carried from the field by his soldiers. 
Cleon had from the first thought of nothing but flight, and being 
overtaken by a common soldier he was slain, while the Athenians 
made a long and brave resistance, until in the end they were put to 
flight. They lost six hundred men, while the Lacedaemonians had 
only seven dead, and those who had escaped returned home. The 
memory of Brasidas was honoured at Amphipolis, where he died, 
with annual games and a festival called the Brasideia. 

15. The plans which had been formed by the great Brasidas 
were not carried out by his countrymen, who were bent upon 
making peace and obtaining the liberation of their prisoners. The 
pride and arrogance of the Athenians had been considerably low- 
ered by their recent losses, and Cleon, the principal advocate of the 
war, was no more. Nicias, who now guided the councils of the 
Athenians, though a brave and able general, was in favour of peace. 
Negotiations, accordingly, were commenced, and continm :^ during 



THE PEACE OF NICIAS. 207 

the ensuing winter. At length, in the spring of B. c. 421 the 
basis of a peace was settled, and it was agreed that each of the bel- 
ligerent parties should restore what they had conquered during the 
war. This peace was agreed to by Athens and Sparta and their 
respective allies, with the exception of the Boeotians, Corinthians, 
Eleans, and Megarians. All the Athenian and Lacedaemonian 
prisoners were, of course, returned without ransom. This peace 
commonly called the peace of Nicias, was concluded for a period of 
fifty years. The Spartans were to commence carrying the terms 
of the peace into efiect, and the Athenians to follow. Early in the 
same year in which this peace was concluded, the Spartans entered 
into an offensive and defensive alliance with Athens, in which it 
was stipulated that each should be entitled to increase or diminish 
the number of its allies. This plan had been devised by Sparta, 
because her thirty years' peace with Argos had just expired, and 
she wished to strengthen herself for the event of a war with that 
state. But the measure at once roused the fear and opposition of 
the smaller states, and it was evident from the first that the peace 
could not be of long duration. 

16. For nearly seven years after the conclusion of the peace of 
Nicias, the Athenians and Lacedaemonians indeed abstained from 
invading each other's territories, but Greece was nevertheless not 
in the enjoyment of peace, for neither Athens nor Sparta strictly 
adhered to the terms agreed upon, and each was anxious to increase 
the circle of its allies. Meantime Argos put itself at the head of a 
new confederacy, which might embrace all the Greeks except the 
Athenians and Spartans, and was joined by the Mantineans, Eleans, 
Corinthians, and Chalcidians, while others were only wavering. 
Sparta came to a separate understanding with Boeotia, and Argos 
declared itself in favour of Athens. Amid these difficult compli- 
cations, the warlike dispositions of the Athenians were fanned by 
Alcibiades, who was still a young man, but was honoured by the 
people on account of his ancestors. He was an extraordinary man, 
and perhaps the most perfect image of the Athenian people them- 
selves. The consciousness of his powers, and his reckless ambition, 
impelled him on all occasions to claim the foremost place ; he was 
naturally of an aristocratic temperament, and whenever he appeared 
as a popular leader, it was for the purpose of gaining some personal 
object. It was this man who brought about the conclusion of an 
alliance between Athens, Argos, Elis, and Mantinea ; it was to be 
both offensive and defensive, and to last for one hundred years. 
The Corinthians soon after returned to their alliance with Sparta. 
All this occurred in B. c. 420, and in the following year symptoms 
of a great and general struggle appeared in Peloponnesus, for a 
war between Argos and Epidaurus furnished opportunities to the 
Athenians of annoying Sparta. But peace was formally still main- 



208 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

tained. In B. C. 418, however, tlie Argives, stimulated by Alcibiades, 
went so far in their provocations, that Sparta could endure it no 
lonajer. "The Lacedaemonians with a considerable force entered the 
territory of Mantinea, and in a battle fonpht against the Argives 
gained a decisive victory. This battle of Mantinea at once restored' 
the military glory of Sparta, which was further strengthened by 
the fact that a party at Argos, hostile to its democratic constitution, 
brought about a peace with Sparta, in spite of the efforts made by Alci- 
biades to thwart it. Argos renounced her former allies, and discon- 
tinued her hostilities against Epidaurus. Argos and Sparta then 
endeavoured to draw into their alliance as many states as possible, 
and Sparta in particular was busily engaged in establishing oligarchic 
forms of government wherever her influence enabled her to do so. 

17. But in B. c. 417, the democratic party at Argos recovered 
its former position, and the aid sent by Sparta to support the 
oligarchy came too late. The victorious party formed connections 
with Athens, and provided for the safety of the city in case of an 
attack. In B. c. 416, Alcibiades sailed with a squadron of twenty 
galleys to Argos, where he took on board three hundred of the 
leading oligarchs, and then deposited them in the neighbouring 
islands, where they were guarded as prisoners by the Athenians. 
The Doric isle of Melos was the only island that did not belong to 
the Athenian confederacy ; attempts had previously been made to 
gain it over, but without effect. The Athenians now thought cir- 
cumstances favourable, and sent out a fleet under Cleomedes to 
reduce Melos. Negotiations were first tried, but the Melians rejected 
them, and all they were ready to agree to was to remain neutral. 
The Athenians accordingly began to besiege the town. The courage 
and perseverance of the Melians protracted the siege until the fol- 
lowing winter, when, finding resistance no longer possible, they 
surrendered at discretion. The ravages of the Athenians reduced 
the island to a wilderness, which was peopled again by five hun- 
dred settlers sent by the conquerors. The Spartans, still adhering 
to existing treaties, had sent no assistance to their Melian kinsmen ; 
but still a number of otherwise trifling occurrences foreboded more 
important events. 

18. The desire to establish themselves in the western seas, and 
to gain possession of Sicily, had long since been awakened in the 
Athenian people and its demagogic leaders after the death of Peri- 
cles. The first attempt to realise this desire had been made some 
years before, during the war between Leontini and Syracuse ; but 
the peace of Gcla had checked their designs for a time. The 
Athenians were now in a state of mind when anything grand and 
adventurous had a particular charm for them, and not being willing 
to be the first to break the peace with Sparta, they eagerly listened 
to the advice of Alcibiades and other men of the war party. Their 



THE SICILIAN EXPEDITIONS. 209 

opponents were as anxious to mainfain peace at any price. Under 
these circumstances, ambassadors from Egesta in Sicily appeared at 
A-fliens, B. c. 416, soliciting aid against the neighbouring town of 
Sclinus, and promising to support the Athenians with kxrge sums 
of money against their enemies, especiuUy the Syracusans. Athe- 
nian envoys were forthwith sent to Sicily to look into the state of 
affairs there. On their return in the spring of B. C. 415, they 
brought with them sixty talents, and gave the most rapturous de- 
scripHon of the wealth of Egesta. The Athenians forthwith decreed 
to send out a fleet under the command of Alcibiades, Nicias, and 
Lamachus, the first of whom thus saw the realisation of his most 
ardent wishes. Nicias was in his heart opposed to the undertak- 
ing, but his warnings were not listened to. Every effort was made 
to send out an expedition worthy of the name of Athens, and as the 
peace party were unable to prevent the undertaking, they devised 
a scheme by which they intended to ruin Alcibiades ; but in doing 
this they deprived themselves of the only man capable of conducting 
the enterprise to a glorious end, and brought the greatest calamity 
upon their country. 

19. When the fleet was in the port ready to sail, it happened 
that one morning nearly all the numerous busts of Hermes which 
adorned the streets of Athens were found mutilated. This act of 
wantonness on so large a scale filled the minds of the Athenians 
with alarm ; it was believed that it was the work of a conspiracy 
against the constitution, and great rewards were offered to any one 
who could give information about the perpetrators. Informers of 
all ranks came forward, and those who were denounced thought it 
safest during the general excitement to take to flight; but they 
were sentenced to death, and their property confiscated. No an- 
cient writer has given an explanation of this mysterious affair, but 
it seems probable that it was a scheme devised by the peace party, 
in conjunction with the personal enemies and rivals of Alcibiades, 
for the purpose of getting rid of him. His name however was not 
mentioned by any of the informers, until the expedition had actually 
sailed. The splendid armament which left the port of Piraeus con- 
sisted of one hundred and thirty-four galleys, five thousand one 
hundred heavy-armed men, four hundred and eighty bowmen, and 
seven hundred slingers ; and the fleet was accompanied by thirty 
transports and one hundred boats. Upon this magnificent force 
Athens rested her boldest hopes. It fir^t sailed to ^Slgina and 
thence to Corcyra, where it was to meet the contingents of the 
allies. 

20. The fleet sailed from Corcyra to the south of Italy, and 
halted at Rhegium, while three ships sailed to Egesta to recon- 
noitre. When these shifs returned, they brought the discouraging 
news that thirty talents was all the money they had been able to 

18* 



210 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

obtain, and that Egesta was far from being the wealthy town which 
it had been represented to be. But Alcibiades and Lamachus were 
nevertheless determined to proceed, and not only to assist the Eges- 
taeans, but to gain as many allies as possible, and make a vigorous 
attack upon Syracuse. This plan being finally adopted, several 
Sicilian towns were taken, and the fleet appeared before Syracuse. 
At this moment an Athenian state-vessel arrived to recall Alcibiades 
from the command of the army, and to take him back to Athens to 
defend himself against the charges which his enemies had in the 
meantime brought forward. Alcibiades departed without remon- 
strance from Sicily in his own galley, accompanied by the Athe- 
nian state-vessel. But when he approached Thurii, he landed and 
made his escape. Soon afterwards he crossed over to Peloponnesus ; 
but the Athenians not only condemned him to death, but confis- 
cated his property, and pronounced an awful curse against him. 
When Alcibiades was gone, the soul of the Sicilian expedition was 
lost; the war was carried on in a slow and tedious manner, and 
the Syracusans seeing the enemy engaged in distant parts of the 
island soon recovered from their first fright. Thus things went on 
until the winter set in, and then the Athenians resolved upon be- 
sieging Syracuse. Guided by a treacherous Syracusan, they 
effected a landing at a point called Olympian on the south-west 
side of the city, where they pitched their camp in a very favourable 
position. The Syracusans came out, and a battle was fought at 
once, in which they were saved only by their cavalry. As, how- 
ever, it was winter, the Athenians, without making any further 
attempts, withdrew to Catana, which had joined their alliance. 

21. Hermocrates, still the soul of the councils at Syracuse, did 
all he could to train and cheer his fellow-citizens for the contest, 
and sent envoys to Sparta and Corinth for succours. The Athe- 
nian armament also was expecting reinforcements from Athens. 
The Syracusans extended their city for the purpose of rendering a 
blockade difficult, and endeavoured to increase the number of their 
allies. Their example was followed by the Athenians, who sent 
round envoys to the towns of Sicily, and even to Carthage and the 
Tyrrhenians. The Greek towns in Sicily were lukewarm in their 
support of Syracuse, but assistance came from a quarter from which 
they had least expected it. Alcibiades had gone to Sparta, where 
he was received with great honours. While he was staying there, 
the Syracusan envoys, accompanied by others from Corinth, arrived, 
for the Corinthians were quite willing to support their kinsmen in 
Sicily. Alcibiades strongly advised the Spartans to send a largo 
force and an able general to Syracuse, and establish themselves at 
the same time at Decelea in Attica; and his advice was at once 
acted upon. Gylippus, one of their ablest men, was sent with a 
small force to Syracuse, and further assistance was promised. 



SIEGE OF vSYRACUSE. 211 

22. In the spring of b. c. 414, the Athenians renewed the siege 
of Syracuse, but a long time elapsed before the city could be in- 
vested. The first conflict occurred at the heights called Epipolae, 
where the Syracusans were defeated. The Athenians then ad- 
vanced against the quarter of the city called Tyche, and began the 
work of circumvallation. Various engagements took place in which 
the Syracusans were worsted, but in one of them Lamachus was 
killed, and this somewhat encouraged them. The Athenian fleet in 
the meantime had entered the great harbour of Syracuse, and the 
whole army of the besieged threw itself into the city, which was 
now wholly blockaded. The despondency in Syracuse was so 
great, that the people began to think of peace, and deposed Her- 
mocrates, their best and most patriotic adviser. The Athenians, on 
the other hand, were now joined by many of the Sicilian towns, 
and even by some of the Tyrrhenians ; the army, now commanded 
by Nicias alone, was filled with hopes of victory. Under these cir- 
cumstances Gylippus arrived and landed near Himera, on the north 
coast of Sicily. His mere arrival inspired the Dorian towns with 
fresh confidence and the hope of a vigorous support from Sparta, 
and numbers flocked to his standard. The Syracusans also felt 
their spirits reviving, and banished all thoughts of peace from their 
minds. Gylippus succeeded in gaining the heights of Epipolae, 
and being joined by the Syracusans, attacked the fortifications of 
the Athenians, which were nearly completed. 

23. The arrival of Gylippus completely changed the aspect of 
affairs. The Athenians were not only prevented from completing 
their fortifications, but lost their stores, and it was evident that their 
operations by land would not lead to the desired issue. Gylippus 
devoted all his attention to the safety of the city and the training 
of his troops. The success which he met with in this respect, and 
in some skirmishes with the Athenians, induced both the natives 
of Sicily and the Greek towns to embrace the cause of Syracuse, 
while the Athenians had scarcely any allies except Naxos and 
Catana. Syracuse, moreover, had received reinforcements from 
Greece, and was expecting more. Nicias was in a most difiicult 
and dangerous position, for instead of besieging Syracuse, he him- 
self was besieged. He accordingly wrote to Athens for reinforce- 
ments, and desired to be recalled on the ground of his ill health. 
This last request was refused, but Demosthenes and Eurymedon, 
being appointed his colleagues, were sent with fresh troops to Sicily. 
The report of these preparations induced the Lacedaemonians, iu 
the beginning of B. c. 413, to invade Attica under the command 
of Agis, for the peace had been openly broken in Greece the year 
before, when Athens, to assist Argos, ravaged some Laconian towns. 
After laying waste some parts of Attica, Agis, as Alcibiades had 
advised, fortified himself at Decelea, whence he was enabled to 



2V2 IIISTORYOFGREECE. 

annoy tbe Atlierii:ins by devastating their fields, and thus to become 
a luost troublesome enemy. Athens now bad to carry on war in two 
quarters ; her expenditure was increased, while her revenues were 
diminished, and outward misfortunes could not fail to call forth 
discontent and a revolutionary spirit at home. 

24. Gylippus and Hermocrates prevailed upon tbe Syracusans to 
attack the Athenians by sea, before the new commanders with their 
additional forces arrived, and a battle was fought at the entrance of 
the great harbour of Syracuse, in which the Athenians were victo- 
rious, but when they returned to their station on the coast, they 
found it already occupied by the land-army of Gylippus. This em- 
boldened the Syracusans to harass the enemy, who from want of 
provisions became more and more reduced, in every possible way, 
and they even fought a second naval battle, which lasted for several 
days, and in which the Athenians were obliged to retreat. This at 
once destroyed the prestige of the Athenian name, for they had 
until then been believed to be invincible at sea. At this critical 
juncture Demosthenes and Eurymcdon arrived with strong rein- 
forcements. They were larger than the Syracusans had anticipated, 
and created great alarm among them, while the hopes of the Athe- 
nians revived. Demosthenes, impatient of delay, resolved to recover 
Epipolae, and in a nocturnal and unexpected attack, he was at first 
very successful; but various circumstances then combined to throw 
the Athenian forces into confusion, and they were completely 
defeated ; great numbers were cut to pieces in tbe darkness of the 
night, and the rest escaped to the camp. The Athenian generals 
were disheartened by this misfortune, which was aggravated by dis- 
ease among the troops. Demosthenes even went so far as to propose 
to give up Sicily altogether. Nicias had the same feeling, but he 
was also aware of the dangers connected with a withdrawal. At 
length, however, he gave way, and it was agreed that the Athenian 
forces should withdraw in secret, without the knowledge of the 
enemy. But an eclipse of the moon made so strong an impression 
upon their excited and superstitious minds, that the departure was 
deferred. In the meantime the Syracusans, having received rein- 
forcements and information about the design of the Athenians, 
advanced at once with seventy-six galleys against the naval station 
of the Athenians, whilst the land army marched against their forti- 
fications. The Athenian fleet, consisting of eighty-seven ships, was 
completely defeated, Eurymedon's retreat was cut oS, and he him- 
self was slain. The ships which made their escape gallantly resisted 
a subsequent attack of Gylippus and repelled the enemy. But the 
loss of the Athenians was very great, and the spirits of the Syra- 
cusans were raised to such a pitch that they aimed at nothing short 
of annihilating the army of their opponents. 

25. Meantime they made preparations for another great sea-fight; 



LOSSES or THE ATHENIANS. 213 

the Athenians knowing that the decisive moment was approaching, 
made their arrangements accordingly. All the fleet, amounting to 
one hundred and ten vessels, was soon made ready for the contest, 
but Gylippus, who knew all the enemy's plans, contrived to 
neutralize them. Nicias remained with the land-army, which was 
drawn up on the coast. When the naval engagement commenced, 
the contest was carried on with the greatest exasperation on both 
sides. At length the Athenians retreated towards the coast, and 
the land army broke up in utter confusion, and most of the men 
fled in terror. Nearly half their fleet was destroyed ; everything 
was neglected, and all they thought of was flight. The fleet was 
abandoned, and it was agreed to retreat by land to some place of 
safety. The Syracusans, on being informed of this, occupied all 
the roads and passes. The Athenian array, when commencing its 
retreat, still amounted to forty thousand men. The sick, the 
wounded, and the dying were left behind. Nicias commanded the 
van, and Demosthenes the rear. Throughout their march they 
were harassed by the Syracusans, who after some days forced them 
to prepare for battle in a narrow position. When the flght had 
lasted for some time, Demosthenes and his troops were summoned 
to surrender their arms, on condition that none should suffer a 
violent death. The demand was complied with by all, six thousand 
in number. On the following day Nicias also was overtaken bj 
Gylippus, and heard of the fate of his colleague; but not believing 
it, he refused to listen to any proposals, and continued his march 
amid the most exti'aordinary difficulties, until in the end he was 
obliged to surrender at discretion. The Athenian army had by this 
time been greatly reduced; the captives, amounting to seven thou- 
sand, were sent into the quarries near Syracuse, and their treatment 
was inhumanly cruel, for they lived crowded together in a pestilential 
atmosphere, and their scanty food only increased their torments. 
After spending seventy days in that fearful dungeon, in the midst 
of the corpses of their fellow-soldiers, the survivors, except the 
Athenians and the Sicilian and Italian Greeks, were sold as slaves. 
Nicias and Demosthenes, notwithstanding the promises of Gylippus, 
were put to death. Thus ended an undertaking which, in the 
opinion of Thucydides, was the greatest, not only in the Pelopon- 
nesian war, but in any war that had ever been carried on. The 
loss of the Athenians was fearful, and far greater than any they 
had yet sustained. The heartless cruelty displayed by the Syracu- 
sans on that occasion must ever be held in the greatest detestation. 
26. The blow which xlthens had received was fatal, and forms 
the beginning of her gradual decline. The news on reaching 
Athens was at first disbelieved, but when at length it was found to 
be but too true, the people became desponding and disheartened, 
and vented their feelings against those who had induced them to 



214 HISTORY OP GREECE. 

send out the expedition. But the depression did not last; the 
Athenians soon roused themselves, and resolved to continue the 
-war, and preserve the power thej still possessed. The Spartans, by 
a bold stroke, might have put an end to the war; but the 'moment 
for action was neglected, and the war continued nine years longer — 
a jjeriod commonly called the Decelean war, because the Spartans ■ 
retained possession of Decelea in the very heart of Attica, thougl 
the principal seats of the war were the sea and the coast of Asia . 
Minor; for, through the Sicilian expedition, Sparta had become a: 
maritime power, which rose to its height under the command of 
Lysander. The allies of Athens, now thinking her too weak to 
make any great eifort, commenced negotiations with Agis about 
their revolt. The first that came forward were Euboea and Lesbos ; 
the Persian satraps of Western Asia also sent envoys to Sparta, to 
gain her over to the interests of Persia, and to deprive Athens of 
her possessions in Asia Minor and on the Hellespont. The Spar- 
tans were ready with their promises, but it was not till B. c. 412 
that anything was done. Alcibiades, who had urged the Spartans 
on, was then sent with five ships, commanded by Chalcideus, to 
Chios, and induced the people to renounce. the alliance with Athens. 
Erythrae and Clazomenae soon followed the example. The Athe- 
nians sent out two squadrons to pursue the Lacedaemonians, and 
prevent the spreading of the revolt; but they were unable to check 
the skilful management of Alcibiades ; and while he was pursuing 
his successful undertaking, a treaty was concluded between the king 
of Persia and Sparta, in which the Greek towns in Asia were 
delivered up to the barbarians. 

27. The Chians, though put to flight by an Athenian fleet, tried 
to induce as many as possible to join the revolt, but the Athenians 
having gradually assembled a large force in those parts, compelled 
most of the revolted towns to return to their allegiance, and the 
Spartan admiral, Chalcideus, was shun near Miletus. Chios was 
laid waste, and the islanders were beaten in several engagements. 
Late in the summer of B. c. 412, a large Athenian reinforcement, 
commanded by Phrynichus and others, arrived at Samos, and forth- 
with proceeded to attack Miletus. A battle was fought, in which 
Tissaphernes and Alcibiades took part, but no decisive victory was 
gained by either party, when suddenly an auxiliary fleet arrived 
from Syracuse. Phrynichus, therefore, wisely retreated to Samos, 
and his allies, the Argives, being dissatisfied with this movement, 
returned home. The Spartans thus remained in possession of Mile- 
tus, and also gained over some other places; but at sea the Athe- 
nians remained, on the whole, in the ascendancy. Tissaphernes 
became dissatisfied with the conduct of the Spartans, and Alcibiades, 
who had for some time been suspected by the Spartans, and hated 
by their king Agis, now went over to him, and persuaded him to 



SUCCESSES OF ALCIBIADES. 215 

reduce the support which till then he had given to the Spartans, 
showing him that it was for the interest of Persia to allow Sparta 
and Athens to weaken each other. The advice was adopted by 
Tissaphernes, and caused no small loss to the Spartans. 

28. But Alcibiades had not intended to benefit "the king of 
Persia more than Athens and himself, for he had only wished to 
weaken his countrymen so fur as to induce them to recall him from 
exile. At the same time he had thrown out several hints to the 
Athenians at Samos, such as, that he would gain over Tissaphernes 
to their side; that he was willing to return to Athens if an oligar- 
chical government were instituted, and the like. The Athenians 
at Samos, and especially the nobles, were taken with the scheme. 
Phrynichus alone set himself against it; but it was without avail. 
Pisander went to Athens with the proposals of Alcibiades, and Tis- 
saphernes was induced at once to side with the Athenians. Pisan- 
der met a stronger opposition at Athens than he had anticipated ; 
but he persevered, and at last the people yielded. Pisander 
and ten envoys were then sent to Alcibiades and Tissaphernes. 
Immediately on their arrival, they made Cos their head-quarters for 
the negotiation. But the demands of Alcibiades were -so exorbi- 
tant, that the Athenian commissioners broke off all negotiation, and 
returned to Samos. At Athens, however, the promoters of the 
scheme had been very active, and at the beginning of B. C. 411, the 
oligarchical government was established. In many of the allied 
states the same change was successfully accomplished. The leaders 
of the revolution at Athens, with Pisander at their head, prevailed 
upon the people to elect ten men with unlimited power, who were 
to prepare a series of new laws. A body of four hundred men was 
then elected, and the franchise limited to five thousand citizens, all 
others being deprived of it. The council of Four Hundred hud 
almost unlimited power. The chief promoters of this oligarchical 
scheme were Pisander, the orator Antiphon, and Theramenes. All 
the thoughts of the new government were directed towards a speedy 
conclusion of peace with Sparta. At the same time deputies were 
sent to Samos to gain over the army to the new order of things. 
But the popular party in Samos itself, and the Athenian generals, 
among whom was Thrasybulus, defended the rights of the people. 
The ISamian oligarchs were overpowered by the people, and when 
the Athenian army was informed of the tyrannical and cruel pr:- 
ceediugs of the oligarchs at home, both the fleet and the army bound 
themselves by an oath to maintain the old democratic constitution, 
and, in case of need, even to renounce Athens, and seek a new home 
elsewhere. 

29. During the time of these disturbances in Samos and at 
Athens, the Peloponnesians remained inactive and wasted their 
time, and the support they had expected from Persia did not come 



216 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

Buf still the Athenians sustained many losses, for Abydos, Lamp- 
sacos, Tliasos, Byzantium, and many other towns, revolted, and 
even Euboea, which was of the greatest importance to Athens, was 
lost. Things, however, were preparing which were to be ample 
compensation for these reverses. For Thrasybulus had at length 
prevailed upon the army in Samos to recall Alcibiades. When he 
arrived, he made a great display of his patriotism and his influence 
with Tissaphernes, and the soldiers elected him their commander 
along with Thrasybulus and Thrasyllus. He now tried to inspire 
Tissaphernes with the most exaggerated notions of his new position 
and power, for the satrap had not yet made up his mind openly to" 
support the Athenians and break with the Spartans, whose fleet 
was now commanded by Mindarus. In the meantime, envoys from 
Athens arrived at Samos and endeavoured to exculpate and justify 
the oligarchic rulers of Athens. But the soldiers would not listen 
to them, and had it not been for the moderation of Alcibiades, they 
would have returned home at once to re-establish the democratic 
form of government. This change, however, was not brought about 
by the army, but by the quarrels and disputes among the leaders 
of the oligarchy itself; and it was more particularly Theramenes 
who placed himself at the head of a counter-revolution. But many 
other Athenians also suspected that the oligarchs were secretly 
plotting with the Spartans ; and when a Lacedaemonian fleet actu- 
ally appeared ofi" the coast of Attica, the people rushed to their 
ships and fought a battle, in which they lost twenty-two galleys, 
and Euboea was taken by the enemy. For a moment this loss 
filled the people with despair, but they soon recovered, and in the 
assembly, which was immediately summoned, the Four Hundred 
were deposed, and many other useful measures were carried with 
great aaoderation. Envoys were forthwith despatched to Samos to 
recall Alcibiades. Pisander and some of his friends took refuge 
among the Lacedaemonians at Decelea. 

30. Mindarus, the Spartan admiral, growing at length tired of 
waiting in vain for reinforcements from Tissaphernes, contrived to 
elude the vigilance of the Athenians, and sailed to the Hellespont, 
where he hoped to succeed better with Pharnabazus. But the 
Athenian fleet followed the enemy, and near Cynossema they gained 
a great victory, which, though dearly purchased, I'oused their 
courage and confidence. A second great naval battle was fought 
near Abydos, in which the appearance of Alcibiades decided the 
.victory. Tissaphernes had by this time come to the Hellespont, 
and as Alcibiades was tiying finally to win im over to the side of 
Athens, the satrap seized him and sent him as a prisoner to Sardes, 
on the ground that the king wished to continue the war against 
Athens. About a month later, however, Alcibiades made his 
escape, and returning to the fleet, he determined to fight a decisive 



BATTLE OP ARGINUSAE. 217 

battle against Mindarus. He accordingly sailed to Cyzicus, and 
coming unexpectedly upon the enemy he drove them on shore and 
an engagement ensued on land in which Mindarus fell. The army 
fled, and the entire fleet became the prize of the Athenians. These 
events occurred in B. c. 410. The condition of the Peloponnesians 
after this defeat was quite hopeless, while the Athenians advanced 
unchecked in their victorious career, and recovered all that was lost 
on the Hellespont. In Attica also the Athenians successfully 
repelled an attack made by Agis from Decelea, in which he sus- 
tained great loss. Thrasyllus, who had gained this victory easily, 
obtained large reinforcements, with which he sailed towards the 
west coast of Asia, and finally joined the fleet at Sestos, which 
continued the contest against Pharnabazus. 

31. In the beginning of B. C. 409, Alcibiades besieged Chalcedon 
and compelled it to surrender. Byzantium was delivered up to the 
Athenians by traitors, and Pharnabazus concluded a treaty with 
them, in which he promised them twenty talents. This treaty, 
however, was never ratified by the king, who continued to side with 
Sparta, and sent his son Cyrus as commander of bis forces in Asia 
Minor, with orders to support the cause of the Peloponnesians. 
These things happened in the beginning of the year B. C. 408, and 
the time had now come for Alcibiades to return to his country as 
the victorious and admired conqueror of its enemies. His recep- 
tion at Athens was enthusiastic — every charge which had been 
brought against him was forgotten, and for a time he was again the 
favoured darling of the people. He had been in Athens scarcely 
three months, when he was made commander of a fleet of one hun- 
dred galleys, and sailed against Andros, which had revolted from 
Athens. But he was unable to reduce the island, and this fur- 
nished his enemies with a fresh handle against him, for the people 
of Athens had such an exalted opinion of him as to believe that he 
could accomplish everything, and consequently to regard any failure 
as owing to his want of good will. 

32. The Peloponnesians, too, were now commanded by a great 
general, Lysander, the successor of Mindarus, and a worthy adver- 
sary of Alcibiades. He was then waiting at Ephesus for the arrival 
of Cyrus, who was a zealous friend of the Spartans, partly from 
hatred of Tissaphernes, and partly from a hope to be assisted by 
the land forces of the Spartans in his own undertakings. Lysan- 
der's fleet had been increased to ninety ships, and Antiochus, one 
of the ofiicers of Alcibiades, although forbidden by his commander 
to attack Lysander, sailed into the harbour of Ephesus to challenge 
the enemy. The general engagement which arose out of this, 
ended unfortunately for the Athenians, who lost seventeen ships, 
Alcibiades was unable to repair the loss, and returned to Samos. 
There the army, ascribing the discomfiture to his carelessness, was 

19 



218 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

SO indignant as to depose him, and appoint ten generals in hi 
stead, B. c. 407. Alcibiades, knowing the fickleness of bis coun 
trymen, went as a voluntary exile to Chersonesus, and never saw 
his country again. Three years later, he showed that his patriotism 
was undiminished ; after the downfall of Athens, he went to the 
satrap Pharnabazus, who abandoned him to the implacable hatred 
of the Spartans. Conon, the ablest among the successors of Alci- 
biades, remained at the head of his forces about Samos. In b. c. 
406, Lysander was succeeded by Callicratidas, a young hero of a 
disposition similar to that of Brasidas; he took Methymna iu 
Lesbos by storm, put Conon to flight, and compelled him to engage 
in a fight in which the Athenians lost thirty ships. The Athe- 
nians, on hearing of this and other reverses, equipped with the 
utmost speed a fieet of one hundred and ten sail, which was in- 
creased at Samos to one hundred and fifty. Near the group of 
islands called Arginusae, this armament was attacked by Callici'a- 
tidas. The young Spartan hero fell in the battle, and the victory 
was gained by the Athenians. The Lacedaemonians lost upwards 
of seventy ships. Immediately after the battle, a storm arose which 
rendered it impossible for the Athenian generals to collect the 
wrecks, the shipwrecked, and the corpses. This apparent neglect 
was seized upon at Athens by their enemies, and the generals were 
summoned to return and take their trial. Six of them obeyed the 
command, and went to their own destruction, for the people, goaded 
on by its democratic leaders, condemned them all to death. Thera- 
menes, who was one of the generals, acted the part of an accuser of 
his colleagues to save himself, and Socrates was one of the few who 
condemned the proceedings as unjust. But the eyes of the people 
were soon after opened, and its evil advisers had to pay for their 
crime with their lives. 

33. After the death of Callicratidas, Lysander was again placed 
at the head of the Peloponnesian forces, and in B. C. 405 he joined 
the fleet at Ephesus, with reinforcements and subsidies from various 
quarters, especially from young Cyrus, who was then plotting against 
h;s brother Artaxerxes. Soon afterwards Lysander sailed towards 
the Hellespont and took Lampsacos. He was followed by the 
Athenian fleet, which took its station at ^gospotanii, opposite 
to Lampsacos, in a position where the men had to leave their ships 
in Older to obtain provisions. Alcibiades, who was living in the 
ni'ighbourhood, cautioned his countrymen, but his advice was 
scorned. After some days, when the Athenians had been lullt-d 
into security, and were as usual scattered on the shore, Lysander 
attacked them. Conon, seeing the impossibility of gathering his 
forces, fled with a few ships ; all the remainder were captured, and 
the crews were cut to pieces on shore or taken prisoners. Conon 
escaped to Evagoras in Cyprus, but two of his colleagues were put 



END OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR. 219 

ic Jeath at Lampsacos. Lysander now proceeded to subdue the 
■aDies of Athens one after another, but sent the garrisons of the 
cities to Athens, where he hoped by this means to create- want and 
famine. At the same time all the Peloponnesian land forces as- 
sembled in Attica, and encamped close to the gates of the city ; and 
Lysander, who approached with his fleet, ravaged Salamis, and ap- 
peared before Piraeus. Athens was thus attacked by land and by 
sea; but although the people were without means of defending 
themselves, they yet refused to surrender at once, for they knew 
the fate that was awaiting them. When at length famine had 
reached a fearful height, they offered to treat with the Spartans, if 
they would promise to spare the cit3'-and the long walls. They were 
referred to the ephors at Sparta, but finding that negotiation was 
impossible with the exasperated enemy, they were obliged to submit 
on the following terms : — that the long walls and the fortifications 
of Piraeus should be pulled down ; that all ships, with the esception 
of twelve, should be delivered up; that all the exiles of the oli- 
garchical party should be recalled ; that henceforth Athens and Sparta 
should have the same friends and the same enemies; and lastly, that 
Athens should recognise the supremacy of Sparta both by land and by 
sea, aod that all her allies should be restored to independence. 
Theramenes, who had acted a very equivocal part in obtaining this 
peace, advised the desponding people to accept it. All the terms 
were at once complied with, and Lysander, having entered Piraeus, 
commenced the work of demolition, B. C. 404. Thus ended the 
Peloponnesian war, which had lasted for twenty-seven years, and in 
which more Hellenic blood had been shed than in all the previous 
wars together. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FROM THE CLOSE OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR TO THE PEACE 
OF ANTALCIDAS. 

1. As soon as the fortifications were demolished, the people of 
Athens, by command of Lysander, elected thirty men, commonly 
called the Thirty Tyrants, who were to rule the state according to a 
constitution to be newly framed. The most conspicuous among them 
was Critias, but Theramenes also was one of the Thirty. When 
the election was completed, the Peloponnesian army and fleet ie 
parted. But Lysander, before disbanding his fleet, sailed to Samos, 
where he likewise instituted an oligarchy, and then returned home 



220 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

with immense booty and the tribute he had levied on the former 
allies of Athens. The Thirty at first directed their rigour chiefly 
against the leading demagogues ; this rule, however, was soon for- 
gotten, or made a mere pretext for getting rid of the noblest and 
wealthiest men, to satisfy the avarice and cupidity of the tyrants. 
But the number of exiles was greater than that of those who were 
put to death. The reckless cruelty of the tyrants knew no bounds. 
They were assisted in their deeds of blood by a band of mercenaries 
sent by Lysauder. From among the citizens three thousand were 
selected, who alone were to have the franchise, and to be permitted 
to bear arms. All the rest were placed beyond the protection of the 
law, and their lives depended upon the pleasure of the Thirty. 
About one thousand four hundred Athenians fell victims to the 
blood-thirsty oligarchs during that fearful year, called in Greek 
history the year of anarchy, and five thousand emigrated, leaving 
behind all that they possessed. The rule of terror was so great, 
that even cities hostile to Athens took pity upon the unfortunate 
exiles. Theramenes in the end also began to feel that he could not 
co-operate with his colleagues, and remonstrated with Critias, in 
return for which Critias charged him with treason, efiaced his 
name from the list of citizens, and thereby declared him an outlaw. 
He was thrown into prison, and had to drink the deadly hemlock. 
He submitted cheerfully to his fate, and thus in a measure atoned 
for the offences of his more than equivocal life. 

2. But the more reckless the tyrants became, the more they 
accelerated the day of retribution. One of the exiles was Thrasy- 
bulus, who had so often signalised himself during the war. He had 
at first gone to Thebes, but being joined by a band of seventy fellow- 
exiles, he had taken possession of the small fort of Phyle, in the 
north of Attica. The Thirty, unable to dislodge him, stationed a 
small corps in the neighbourhood to watch his procceedings. The 
number of exiles flocking to him soon increased to seven hundred, 
with whom he put the enemy to flight, and then proceeded to 
Piraeus. The Thirty, feeling unsafe at Athens, murdered three 
hundred horsemen whom they suspected of favouring the exiles. 
A battle was then fought in the streets of Piraeus, in which the 
exiles gained the victory. Critias himself fell, and many of his 
followers. The conquerors behaved with exemplary moderation, 
and the vanquished retreated to the city, from which the survivors 
of the Thirty withdrew to Eleusis. Their partisans at Athens en- 
deavoured to make a compromise ; but failing in this, both they 
and the Thirty sent to Sparta for assistance. Lysander accordingly 
came with an army, and his brother blockaded I'iraeus with a fleet. 
The Spartan king Pausanias, however, being jealous of the exploits 
of Lysander, advanced with another army, but was anxious to save 
Athens, and to restore peace. An understanding was easily come 



RESTORATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 221 

to, and a general amnesty was proclaimed by Thrasybulus, from 
which the Thirty and their official tools alone were er^pmpted. 
Thrasybulus then marched up into the city, advising his fellow- 
citizens to maintain peace and union, and to return to their old 
constitution. The advice was strictly followed ; but when it became 
known that the Thirty at Eleusis were making preparations for a 
fresh struggle, the people marched out in a body, and inflicted sum- 
mary punishment upon them. Their followers, however, and even 
their children, were pardoned and allowed to avail themselves of the 
general amnesty. Such was the end of the tyranny of the Thirty 
in B. c. 403. The ancient constitution was restored, and a com- 
mission of five hundred men appointed to revise the laws and put 
them together in the form of a code. 

3. Athens, which at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war had 
been at the head of a powerful empire, had now, according to all 
appearance, sunk down to the rank of a second-rate state, but never- 
theless, as throughout the war it bad been the place in which the 
greatest interest was centred, so it remained, even after its great 
reverses, a state possessing more vitality than any other. Its 
intellectual vigour and activity were progressing as actively as if 
the late calamities had passed by without any disastrous effect, and 
during the period which now followed, Athens was so rich in the 
productions of art and literature, that in some respects she rose 
higher even than in earlier and happier times, though it must be 
owned that fiucy and imagination gradually gave way to thought 
and reflection, and that, accordingly, poetry was supplanted by 
learning. The loss of the supremacy of Athens and the change in 
her constitution were only transitory; but the changes which were 
produced by the war on Sparta were of a more serious character. 
Sparta had become a maritime power, which was incompatible with 
the character of its ancient laws and institutions, whose object was 
to make it a powerful continental state. One of the consequences 
of this change was, that foreign manners, luxuries, and effeminacy, 
easily found their way into Sparta, although the ancient forms con- 
tinued to be observed most scrupulously; the spirit of the consti- 
tution and the altered circumstcnces formed a most glaring contrast. 
In the course of the war, the power of the ephors had risen to such 
a point, that the executive was mainly in their hands, and the per- 
petual quarrels between the two kings contributed not a little 
towards making the ephorate a despotic power in the state. The 
extended intercourse with foreign countries rendered the introduc- 
tion of money among the Spartans necessary, and Sparta soon 
became the richest among the Greek states, that is, Spartan citizens 
were richer than those of any other state; but the wealth was accu- 
mulated in a few families, which were thus enabled to exercise an 
undue influence on all public matters. The number of nine thou- 
19* 



222 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

sand Spartan citizens mentioned in the tradition about the legisla- - 1 
tion of Lycurgus was now reduced to seven hundred ; of these only 
one hundred were in the enjoyment of all civic riohts, and these 
few lived in proud and haughty seclusion from the rest of the 
population. 

4. Athens came forth from the long struggle outwardly humbled, 
but not internally broken ; and the Athenians then, as at all other 
times, displayed a high degree of skill in accommodating themselves 
to new circumstances, or, in case of need, returning to their ancient 
institutions. The number of Athenian citizens was not materially 
diminished, notwithstanding all the calamities of the war and the 
pestilence, for they were liberal in bestowing the franchise upon 
aliens and slaves who benefited the state by their commerce and 
industry. The Athenian people were often led by unprincipled 
demagogues into acts of injustice and cruelty, and were prevailed 
upon by them to squander, on pleasures and amusements, the 
money from the public treasury which ought to have been devoted 
to the public service. Large sums were thus spent for the purpose 
of enabling the poorer citizens to take part in the popular courts 
and the assembly, and to spend a holiday in the theatre, or amuse 
themselves on other festive occasions. Such measures, again, 
created an inordinate love of pleasureand idleness. But notwith- 
standing all this, the mass of the people on all occasions displayed 
a peculiarly noble character; were always more honest, virtuous, 
and merciful than the oligarchical party, which could not sate 
itself with blood whenever circumstances raised it into power. The 
misfortunes which the war and their own party spirit had brought 
upon the Athenians led them, under the wise guidance of Thrasy- 
bulus, to reform their constitution, and make it a moderate democ- 
racy, which was again placed, as of old, under the superintendence 
of the Areopagus. For one generation at least, the Athenians 
lived happy under their new, or rather their ancient, constitution, 
and it was not till the time of Philip of Macedonia that party ani- 
mosities appeared again to disturb that happiness. 

5. The golden age of Attic art and literature extends from the 
beginning of the Persian wars to the death of Alexander, and 
accordingly lasted for a period of about two hundred years. During 
the first of these two centuries poetry and art were cultivated with 
care and enthusiasm, and the drama, the highest and most compli' 
catcd of all poetical productions, reached the highest degree of 
perfection and popularity. The latter century is the period in 
which Attic prose, in oratory and philosophy, attained its full 
development. The time of the Peloponnesian war was the most 
flourishing season of the long golden age, for to it belong Sophocles 
and Euripides, Aristophanes, Thucydidcs, and Socrates. The last 
of these great men, though he did not write any work himself, hao 



CYRUS THE YOUNGER. 223 

been immortalised by his disciples Plato and Xenophou. He is 
truly said to have drawn down philosophy from heaven, and to 
have introduced it into the habitations of men; for before his time 
outward nature alone had been the object of speculation and obser- 
vation with philosophers, whereas he directed attention to the 
moral nature of man and his duties to his fellow-men. But he had 
to pay the penalty which almost all the great authors of new ideas 
have to pay. He was accused of disregarding the publicly recog- 
nised gods, of introducing new divinities, and of corrupting the 
young. He defended himself manfully, but disdained to employ 
any illegal means to obtain his acquittal, and when he was con- 
demned to death, he cheerfully drank the fatal cup, in B. c. 399, 
after a long and useful life of seventy years. 

6. Ever since the wars with Greece, Persia had become weaker 
and weaker; and its history consists of a succession of revolts in 
Egypt and other provinces, of court intrigues and cruel punishments. 
Xerxes was murdered in B. c. 465 by Artabanus, who occupied the 
throne only for a period of seven months, and was succeeded by 
Artaxerxes I., surnaraed Longimanus, from B. C. 465 to 425. His 
successors, Xerxes II., reigned only two months, and Sogdianus 
seven. The throne was then occupied by Darius II., surnamed 
Nothus, who died in B. c. 405, leaving behind him two sons, Cyrus 
and Artaxerxes, surnamed Mnemon, who, being the elder, naturally 
succeeded his father on the throne. Cyrus, as we have already 
seen, had been appointed by his father governor of the maritime 
districts of Asia Minor, and having farmed the plan of placing him- 
self on the thi-one, with the aid of his mother Parysatis, he had 
formed connections with Sparta, and enlisted in his service malcon- 
tents and exiles from all parts of Greece ; for matters had now come 
to this, that Greeks lent their swords and arms for money even to 
the arch-enemy of their own country. Strengthened by such 
Greeks, and being plentifully provided with money, he undertook 
an expedition against his brother, who had already for some years 
occupied his throne ; but only his most intimate friends knew the 
object of the expedition — Cyrus making the army believe that he 
was marching against the rebellious Pisidians. In the summer of 
B. c. 401 he set out from Sardes. At Thapsacus, on the Euphrates, 
the army was informed that they were marching against the king 
of Persia, and the reluctance of the soldiers was overcome only by 
increased pay and liberal promises. In the battle of Cunaxa, where 
Artaxerxes himself commanded an army of one million two hundred 
thousand men, Cyrus was slain and the king wounded. The Greek 
mercenaries, however, were unconquered, and offered the command 
to Ariaeus, a friend of Cyrus, who afterwards fiiithlessly deserted 
them. As they refused to surrender, they were under various pre- 
texts drawn into the interior of the enemy's country, where tbeir 



224 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

commanders were put to death. XenopliOTi, to -whom we are 
indebted for a detailed account of this memorable enterprise, re- 
stored their sinking courage, and exhorted them to return home 
under all circumstances. The retreat was then commenced — the 
Spartan Cheirisophus commanding the van and Xenophon the rear. 
They proceeded northward through unknown mountainous coun- 
tries, and after encountering the most untoward difficulties, being 
pursued by Tissaphernes, the Persian satrap, and attacked by the 
fierce and warlike Carduchi, they at length reached the Greek city 
of Trapezus. Their number, which had originally amounted to 
nearly thirteen thousand, was tben reduced to eight thousand. 
From Trapezus they proceeded partly along the coast and partly 
by sea to the western coast of the J]uxine. Five thousand of them 
there engaged in the service of a Thracian prince, but were after- 
wards recalled to Asia, where hostilities had in the meantime 
broken out between the Spartans and Tissaphernes. This retreat 
of the Greeks is one of the most memorable in all military history, 
and shows the superiority of a small band of well-disciplined soldiers 
over hosts of untrained barbarians. The v.'hole expedition lasted no 
more than fifteen months, ending in the autumn of B. c. 400. 

7. The death of Cyrus had changed the relation subsisting be- 
tween Sparta and the king of Persia. Tissaphernes, who had 
remained faithful to his master during the insurrection of Cyrus, 
was rewarded with the satrapy of Asia Minor; but on his return the 
Greek cities refused to obey him. Many of them had, during the 
late war in Greece, become subject to Persia, and those which were 
yet free now invoked the assistance of Sparta. Thimbrou accord- 
ingly was sent with a large force into Asia; but though reinforced 
by the Athenians, as well as by the Asiatic cities, he eifected little, 
and his successor Dercyllidas, being personally hostile to Pharna- 
bazus, entered into negotiations with Tissaphernes, B. c. 399. By 
this means he gained over many of the ^Eolian cities, and then 
went to Chersonesus to protect the Greek towns there against the 
inroads of the Thracians. The liberation of the Greek cities in 
Asia was carried on vigorously, but at the same time Pharnabazus 
and Tissaphernes became reconciled, and their united forces met 
the Greeks on the north of the Maeander. No battle, however, 
was fought, and a truce was concluded in B. c. 397, to enable both 
parties to consider the terms of peace proposed by Dercyllidas, who 
demanded the independence of the Greek towns. The satraps con- 
sented to this, on condition that the Greek armies and governors 
should be withdrawn from them. 

8. While Thimbron and Dercyllidas were engaged on the coasts 
of Asia, the Spartan king Agis was carrying on a war against Elis, 
which lasted for two years, B. c. 399 and 398, and at the end of 
which Elis was compelled to demolish its fortifications, to recognise 



AGESILAUS. 225 

the independence of the towns in Triphylia, and to enter into an 
alliance with Sparta. Soon after the conclusion of this peace Agis 
died, and was succeeded by his brother Agesilaus, the most intelli- 
gent ruler in the whole history of Sparta, B. c. 398. In the very 
beginning of his reign a conspiracy of the poor, headed by one 
Cinadon, was formed against the few wealthy Spartans. It was 
thwarted solely by the prudence and circumspection of Agesilaus, 
but the causes which had led to it were not removed, and the evil 
continued to increase. Soon after this, information was received at 
Sparta of fresh preparations of Persia against the Greeks, and 
Agesilaus, accompanied by Lysander, set out with a large force for 
Asia, and arrived at Ephesus. Tissapherues, not yet feeling suffi- 
ciently prepared, concluded a truce with Agesilaus, promising to 
ask for the king's sanction to the independence of the Greek cities; 
but his real object was to gain time and to collect his forces. Ly- 
sander, whose ambition became offensive to Agesilaus, was sent to 
the Hellespont. When at length Tissaphernes threw aside the 
mask, Agesilaus also obtained reinforcements and marched into 
Phrygia, a portion of which he laid waste ; but nothing of impor- 
tance was achieved. During a second invasion, a battle was fought 
in the neighbourhood of Sardes, in which Agesilaus gained a com- 
plete victory. In consequence of this, Tissaphernes was deposed, 
and his successor Tithraustes put him to death. The new satrap 
then concluded a truce with the Spartan king, and- by a large bribe 
induced him to direct his arms against Pharnabazus. Agesilaus 
was also commander-in-chief of the Spartan navy, which was fur- 
nished by the Asiatic cities, and amounted to one hundred and 
twenty galleys, but he transferred this office to Pisander, his wife's 
brother, a bold but inexperienced man, B. C. 395. Agesilaus was 
very successful in his operations against Pharnabazus, and advanced 
so far into the interior, that he began making preparations for an 
expedition into the heart of the Persian empire. But this plan 
was not carried into effect, for in the midst of his preparations he 
was summoned to return to Greece, B. C. 394. 

9. During the successful enterprises of Agesilaus in Asia, Ti- 
thraustes had contrived, by means of Persian gold, to stir up the 
Greeks against Sparta, in the hope that this might be the means of 
getting rid of so dangerous an enemy as Agesilaus. The plan suc- 
ceeded, and Thebes, Corinth, Argos, and Athens, formed a league 
against Sparta, which had rendered itself odious to all the Greeks, 
because its harmosts, or governors of cities, everywhere acted like 
tyrants, although the Spartans boasted of being the deliverers of 
Greece from the tyranny of Athens. Hostilities were commenced 
between the Locrians and the Phocians, the former of whom were 
supported by Thebes, while the latter applied to Sparta for assist- 
ance. A Spartan army, commanded by Lysander, proceeded to the 



226 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

scene of tlie war, and on its passace through Boeotia made an attack 
upon Ilaliartos, B. c. 395. The Thebans came to the rescue of the 
town, and Lysander was slain. This was the first battle in the war, 
commonly called the Boeotian or Corinthian war. Soon after the 
battle, the Spartan king Pausanias also arrived, but on finding what 
had happened, he retreated — a step which brought upon him o 
capital charge, and obliged him to spend the remainder of his life 
in exile at Tegea. The confederates now held a congress at Corinth 
to deliberate about the future management of the war; and the 
alliance was readily joined by the Euboeans, Leucadians, Acarna- 
nians, Ambracians, and Chalcidians. Several important places were 
wrested from Sparta, or induced to revolt. While the power of 
Sparta was thus sinking in Greece, the king of Persia intrusted 
Cooon, an able Athenian exile, with unlimited power to equip a 
fleet against her. It was at this moment that Agesilaus was oi'dered 
to return home from Asia. He obeyed with a heavy heart, and in 
thirty days reached Greece by the same road which Xerxes had 
once traversed. Before his arrival in Boeotia the war had already 
broken out. The Corinthians and their allies, preventing the 
Spartan army from marching northward, were assembled at Nemea, 
and a battle was fought there in which the Spartans gained the vic- 
tory. Agesilaus, having received information of it at Amphipolis, 
continued his march southward amidst great difficulties. Late in 
the summer of B. C. 394 he reached Boeotia, and there was met by 
the distressing news of the entire defeat of the fleet, and the death 
of Pisander. This defeat bad been sustained oS" Cnidos, and its 
consequences were of immense advantage to the reviving power of 
Athens. A few days later a battle was fought between Agesilaus 
and the confederates on the banks of the Cephissus, in the plain of 
Coroneia. The contest was carried on with rage and hatred, each 
party being bent upon destroying the other; but in the end Age- 
silaus was victorious, and having dedicated to the Delphic god one 
hundred talents of the booty made in Asia, he went home and 
disbanded his army. 

10. After this the war was continued by means of ravaging 
incursions into the territory of Corinth, where the exasperation 
rose to such a pitch that all who were known to wish for peace were 
massacred. But a few who had escaped opened the gates of 
Lechaeon, the Corinthian port-town, to the Lacedaemonians, who 
forthwith demolished a part of its walls, B. c. 393. The war con- 
tinued to be carried on in the Corinthian territory, but Corinth, 
with the aid of the Athenian Tphicrates and his peltasts, main- 
tained itself successfully against the Spartans under Agesilaus, and 
even recovered several places which had been lost. In the meantime, 
the Greek cities in Asia Minor were delivered from their Spartan 
governors, and joined Pharnabazus and Conon, both of whom ir 



PEACE OF ANTALCIDAS. 227 

the spring of B. C. 393 sailed with a fleet to the coast of Laconia, 
spreading devastation wherever they lauded, and making themselves 
masters of Cythera. Pharnabazus supplied the Greeks with sub- 
sidies against Sparta, and even consented to Conon's plan to rebuild 
the walls of Athens. The work of restoration was carried on 
with such vigour, that in the spring of B. c. 392 it was completed. 
The maritime power of Sparta was at an end, and Athens was fast 
recovering her former supremacy. But the Spartans resolved to 
neutralize the influence of Conon, or, if possible, to ruin hira by 
intrigues. The crafty Antalcidns accordingly was sent to propose 
terms of peace to Tiribazus, a Persian satrap, by which the Asiatic 
cities were to be sacrificed to the king of Persia ; but the islands 
and the cities in Greece were to be free and independent. The 
satrap was pleased with the scheme, though it was opposed by 
Conon and other envoys, who had likewise gone to Asia. In order 
to enable the Spartans to compel the other Greek states to yield, 
Tiribazus advanced them money to build a fleet, and Conon was 
taken prisoner by the Persians. lie made his escape soon after, 
but took no further part in the war, and died in Cyprus. But after 
a short time quarrels among the Persian satraps induced them to 
change their policy, so that Sparta had to continue the war against 
the I'ersiaus, while Athens was favoured by them. 

il. Meanwhile, the Spartans gained some advantages in Acar- 
nania, which country they compelled to enter into an alliance with 
them, B. C. 390 ; and the Spartan Teleutias was successful in pre- 
venting the Athenians from reaping benefit from a revolution which 
had taken place in the island of Rhodes, and in which the popular 
party had gained the upper hand. These circumstances alarmed 
the xlthenians not a little, and they once more sent out the aged 
Thrasybulus with a fleet. He first gained considerable advantages 
on the coast of Thi-ace and in the ^gean, and then proceeded to 
Bhodes, but was taken by surprise in his camp at Aspendos and 
killed. Owing to the fall of this brave man, whose place was sup- 
plied by the reckless and eifeminate Agyrrhius, the Spartans recov- 
ered their losses on the coasts of the Hellespont, until they were 
defeated in B. c. 389 by Iphicrates at Abydos. In the year follow- 
ing they made themselves masters of jEgina, and harassed the Attic 
territory. While these things were occurring in Greece, Antalcidas 
again went to Asia, determined to conclude a peace with Persia, in 

pite of all opposition. At the same time he increased the naval 
power of Sparta, and did much injury to the commerce between 
Athens and the Euxine. These circumstances led the Athenians 
also to turn their thoughts to peace, and their allies, the Argives 
and Corinthians, being tired of the war, likewise sent envoys to 
Tiribazus. With the consent of these ambassadors a peace was 

concluded on the following terms : — That the cities in Asia and the 



228 HISTORY OF GUKECE. 

islands of Clazomenae and Cyprus should belong to the king of 
Pei'sia ; but that all other Greek towns, large and small, should be 
independent, with the exception of Lemnos, Imbros, and Scyros, 
which should, as of old, belong to the Athenians. This peace, 
called the peace of Antalcidas, was concluded in B. C. 387. The 
Thebans and Argives were not inclined to comply with its terms, 
according to which they ought to have set free the towns in their 
respective territories, over which they had hitherto exercised the 
supremacy. But they were compelled by threats to yield. Sparta, 
however, which ought to have been foremost in emancipating the 
towns of Laconia and Messenia, retained its sovereignty over them, 
while it sacrificed the independence of the Asiatic Greeks, to 
secure which so many battles had been fought against the barbar- 
ians during the last hundred years. 



CHAPTER X. 

FROM THE PEACE OF ANTALCIDAS TO THE BATTLE OF 
CHAERONEIA. 

1. The object of the peace of Antalcidas was to divide all Greece 
into a large number of small independent states; but that object 
was never completely attained. Sparta itself not only refused to 
resign its supremacy over Laconia and Messenia, but openly aimed 
at the sovereignty of all Greece. The small towns, moreover, in 
the course of a short time were naturally subjugated by their more 
powerful neighbours. In the quarrels which thus arose, Sparta took 
a dishonest part, and fostering dissension, turned it to its own 
advantage by subduing both small and great. In this manner the 
Mantineians became subject to Sparta. The city was destroyed 
and its inhabitants were distributed among four open villages, 
B. C. 385. In B. c. 384, Philus experienced a similar fate, and 
Sparta by violence established her supremacy in Peloponnesus, 
Argos alone maintaining its independence. But not satisfied with 
this she assumed the right of interfering in the affairs of the most 
distant parts of Gi'eece. A coalition was then forming in the north, 
of which Olynthos was the head; and a report that Athens and 
Boeotia purposed to join it, induced the Spartans at once to send 
out Eudamidas with two thousand men, who took possession of 
Potidaea. The war, of which this was the commencement, is called 
the Olynthian, and lasted from B. c. 383 to 379. Soon after the 
aeparture of Eudamidas, the great army of the Peloponnesian allies 



THEBAN WAR. 229 

followed under Phoebidas. On his arrival at Boeotia, the oligar- 
chical party of Thebes betrayed the city into the hands of Phoebidas, 
and Ismenias, the leader of the popular party, was arrested. 
Sparta sanctioned this act of base treason, and Ismenias was put to 
death. But about three hundred men of the popular party escaped 
to Athens, one of whom was Pelopidas, the future deliverer of his 
country. Epaminondas, the friend of Pelopidas, though belonging 
to the same party, was left unmolested, because he had neither 
wealth nor rank to make him formidable. 

2. The war against Olyuthos was at first unsuccessful, until in 
B. C. 381, Agesipolis, with a fresh army and numerous reinforce- 
ments, gave a different turn to the state of aifairs, and compelled 
the Olynthians to confine themselves within their walls. But 
Agesipolis died the year after, and was succeeded in the command 
by Polybiades, who continued the siege, and in the end forced the 
Olynthians by famine to sue for peace. A treaty was accordingly 
concluded, in which the supremacy of Sparta was recognised, 
B. C. 379. Sparta had now reached the height of her power; all 
opposition was crushed, and Argos and Corinth were as yet too 
exhausted to venture upon a fresh war. But this year of Sparta's 
greatest prosperity was at the same time the beginning of her down- 
fall. 

3. Pelopidas in his exile had been forming plans of delivering 
his country, and with a small number of fellow-exiles he entered 
Thebes by night in disguise; and being there joined by Charon, 
they proceeded to the houses of the leaders of the oligarchy and 
put them to death. The citizens were then called out to assert 
their freedom. At daybreak all the Thebans assembled in arms, 
and an Athenian army, which had been waiting on the frontier, 
hastened to Thebes to assist the popular party. The Spartan har- 
most withdrew to the Cadmea, but was soon obliged to capitulate ; 
he and his garrison were allowed to depart unhurt, but those The- 
bans who had been instrumental in betraying the city into the 
hands of the enemy were put to death. The Spartans on hearing 
the tidings of these events, resolved to reduce Thebes by force of 
arms, and thus commenced the Theban war, which lasted for many 
years, from B. C. 378 to 362. During this war, in which all Greece 
took part, Thebes recovered the supremacy of Boeotia, and under 
Epaminondas even gained that of all Greece; while Athens recov- 
ered her maritime ascendancy. By this war, too, Greece weakened 
herself so much, that subsequently she became an easy prey to the 
Macedonians. 

4. In the beginning of B. C. 378, Cleorabrotus invaded Boeotia, 
but committed no act of hostility against Thebes ; and the Athe- 
nians, who from fear began to think of renouncing their alliance 
with Thebes, were induced only by a stratagem to remain faithful. 

20 



230 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

They then earnestly prepared for war against Sparta, and concluded 
alliances not only with the Boeotians, but with the most powerful 
maritime towns, such as Chios, Byz;intium, Rhodes, Mjtilene, and 
a large number of others. Athens was at the head of this new 
confederacy, and had the supreme command in the war; but every 
allied state had a separate vote. The Athenian navy was gradually 
increased to three hundred sail, and the moderation and wisdom 
displayed by the Athenians in their new position secured to them 
the confidence of the confederates. During the first two years of 
the war, the Lacedaemonians invaded and ravaged Boeotia, but 
nothing of any consequence was effected, for the Thebans remained 
behind their fortifications; in the third year the Lacedaemonians 
were repulsed by the Athenians in attempting to march through 
the passes of Cithaeron. Meanwhile, Pelopidas had formed and 
trained an excellent army at Thebes, the most illustrious part of 
which, the sacred band, consisted of a body of the most patriotic 
young men. The Spartans, after being bafiled by the Athenians, 
built a fleet partly to operate against Athens, and partly to transport 
their troops into Boeotia, but it was destroyed ofi" Naxos by the 
Athenian Chabrias in B. c. 376 ; and to prevent the Peloponnesians 
from sending forces against Boeotia, the Athenians, sending Timo- 
theus with a fleet round Peloponnesus, gained possession of (^ythera, 
and induced Cephallenia, Acaruania, and several Epirot tribes to 
join the Athenian confederacy. By this means Boeotia escaped 
being again harassed and ravaged by the Lacedaemonians, and 
Thebes established her supremacy over the Boeotian towns, which 
was completed in B. c. 375, when the influence of Sparta was broken 
in a battle near Orchomenos. 

5. The success of Thebes excited fears and alarm at Athens, and 
led to a peace between Athens and Sparta, on the understanding 
that the terms of the peace of Antalcidas should be carried into 
effect. Thebes, guided by Pelopidas and Epaminondas, refused to 
become a party to this peace, and the Boeotian towns which still 
asserted their independence, such as Plataeae, Thespiae, and Orcho- 
menos, were razed to the ground. The peace between Athens and 
Sparta did not indeed last long, but Athens pursued an independent 
course, leaving Sparta to continue the war against Thebes. In the 
other parts of Greece the intestine struggles between oligarchy and 
democracy were continued or recommenced with the same fierce- 
ness as during the Peloponnesian war, and as the oligarchs were no 
longer supported by Sparta, the democratic party almost everywhere 
gained the upper hand. At Zacynthos, where the popular party 
was aided by Timotheus, the Spartans were unsuccessful in attempt- 
ing to support the oligarchs ; they were at the same time besieging 
Corcyra likewise in aid of their partisans, and before Iphicratcs, 
who succeeded Timotheus, could reach the island, the Spartans had^ 



I 



THE THEBAN WAR. 231 

been defeated, and their fleet, from fear of the Athenians, had 
retreated to Leucas, B. c. 373. But Tpbicrates nevertheless con- 
tinued the war with great success, and was on the point of beo;in- 
ning operations against Pehiponnesus, when negotiations for peace 
were again commenced. The terms proposed by the king of Persia, 
who now acted the part of a mediator among the Greeks, were again 
(hose of Antaleidas, and were accepted by both Athens and Sparta, 
but Thebes was excluded because it refused to set the Boeotian 
towns free. 

6. Immediately after the conclusion of this peace, the Spartan 
king Cleombrotus marched into Boeotia, and in B. 0. 871 the The- 
bans, without any allies, fought the great battle of Leuctra against 
an army far more numerous than their own. But they were com- 
manded by Pelopidas and Epaminondas, and gained a brilliant 
■victory, for Cleombrotus was killed, and with him four hundred 
Spartans and upwards of three thousand Laconians. The victory 
was owing to the prudence and courage of Epaminondas, who on 
that day gave the first signal proof of his skill as a military com- 
mander. Sparta in this battle lost her military glory and her power ; 
her supremacy in Peloponnesus was gone, and the Arcadians were 
the first that began to assert their independence. Mantinea was 
rebuilt; all the Arcadian states united themselves into one, and it 
was resolved to found a capital, which was forthwith commenced, 
and received the name of Megalopolis. The Spartans indeed en- 
deavoured to check the growth of this new state, but to no purpo.se. 
The Arcadians expected support from Thebes, which strengthened 
itself by alliances with the Phocians, Euboeans, Locrians, Acarna- 
nians, and others, and then invaded Peloponnesus, in B. C. 369, 
under the command of Pelopidas and Epaminondas. In Pelopon- 
nesus they were joined by the Arcadians, Argives, and Eleans, and 
an army of seven thousand men marched against Sparta. Never 
had an enemy been so near the gates of the city, and in their 
alarm the Spartans would even have enlisted their slaves, had they 
not been afraid of them. As the first attack on the city produced 
no efi'ect, Epaminondas proceeded southward as far as Helos and 
Gythion, which he set on fire. Large numbers of Helots and 
Spartan subjects flocked to his standard. But the severest blow he 
inflicted upon his enemies consisted in the restoration of the inde- 
pendence of Messenia. He invited the Messenians from all parts 
of Greece to return to their ancient homes, and began building the 
capital of Messene at the foot of Ithome, which became its citadel. 
All this was accomplished in less than three months, after which 
Epaminondas returned to Boeotia, in the autumn of B. c. 369. 

7. Sparta in her distress applied to Athens for assistance, and 
the Athenians, with their wonted generosity, sent Iphicrates into 
Peloponnesus ; a treaty was at the same time concluded between tbp 



232 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

two cities, according to which the supreme command should belong 
to each alternately. But Iphicrates was not able to cut off the 
returns of Epaminondas from Peloponnesus, as he had hoped. In 
the year B. c. 3G8 Epaminondas made a second expedition acainst 
Sparta. The Isthmus was occupied by Athenian and Peloponne-' 
sian forces, but Epaminondas defeated them and forced his way into 
the peninsula, where, being joined by his allies, he ravaged the 
territories of several towns attached to Sparta, and compelled others 
to surrender. In the meantime Sparta received succour from Dio- 
nysius, the tyrant of Sicily ; and Arcadia, in consequence of its 
ambition or arrogance, found itself forsaken by Thebes. While 
the condition of Sparta was thus somewhat improved, proposals of 
peace arrived from the king of Persia; but they were not listened 
to, and Thebes peremptorily declared that she would not give up 
her supremacy over Boeotia. The war therefore continued, 
although another enemy had arisen in the north, against whom 
Thebes had to direct a part of her forces. Jason of Pherae in 
Thessaly, being commander-in-chief of the Thessalian towns, and 
seeing the distracted state of Greece, formed the scheme of raising 
himself to the supremacy of all the Greek states. With this view 
he interfered in the war between Thebes and Sparta; but soon 
after the battle of Leuctra, in B. c. 370, he was assassinated. His 
two successors were likewise murdered in rapid succession. Alex- 
ander, who then succeeded to the tyrannis of Pherae and to the 
command of the Thessalian towns, attacked Macedonia, and con- 
cluded a treaty with king Alexander, whose brother Philip he 
received as a hostage. In B. c. 368 Pelopidas invaded Thessaly, 
but was made prisoner. It was in vain that the Thebans sent an 
army into Thessaly to obtain his liberation, for Alexander of 
Pherae was assisted by the Athenians; but Epaminondas in a second 
campaign gained his end. Some years later, Pelopidas again 
entered Thessaly to assist the towns against their cruel tyrant, but 
he fell in a bloody battle at Cynoscephalae ; the Thebans, however, 
gained the victory, and compelled the tyrant to restore independ- 
ence to the Thessalian towns, and to enter into an alliance with 
Thebes, b. c. 364. 

8. Meanwhile the Arcadian state had come to an untimely end; 
it had carried on the war against Sparta single-handed ; but the 
Spartans, with the reinforcements from Syracuse, defeated the Ar- 
cadians in B. 0. 367, in a battle in which ten thousand Arcadians 
are said to have fallen, while the Spartans did not lose a single 
man. In the year after this battle, B. c. 366, Epaminondas invaded 
l*cioponnesus for the third time ; but the few advantages he gained 
were soon lost again. In the year following the Arcadians, at the 
BUggestion of their brave leader, entered into an alliance with 
Athens against Thebes, and this led several of the minor states to 



BATTLE OF MANTINEIA. 233 

think about peace, but a war, which broke out in B. c. 365, between 
Arcadia and Elis, destroyed all hopes of it. The Arcadians invaded 
and ravaged the country of Elis ; but Sparta then allied herself 
with Elis, and in the next year, when the Arcadians renewed their 
inroad, the Lacedaemonians appeared with an auxiliary force. The 
Arcadians, by their superiority in numbers, defeated both hostile 
armies, and even took possession of Olympia. The treasures of its 
temple, however, soon led the Arcadians to quarrel among them- 
selves, some wishing to employ them in paying the armies, while 
others were unwilling to give them up. But both parties appeared 
to be willing to come to an understanding and arrange matters 
amicably, when suddenly the Theban commander, who was present, 
arrested a number of the most distinguished persons who had sup- 
ported the opinion, that the treasures should be spent upon the 
army. Mantineia, which had been at the head of that party, 
keenly felt the insult, and called on all the Peloponnesians to assert 
their independence of Thebes. But Epaminondas was already 
approaching with an army. He was accompanied by the Euboeans 
and Thessalians, and in Peloponnesus he was joined by the Messe- 
nians, Argives, and the inhabitants of several Arcadian towns. 
The army of the Lacedaemonians and their allies was encamped at 
Mantineia. After several petty and unsuccessful skirmishes, Epa- 
minondas resolved to venture upon a decisive battle, which was 
fought in the summer of B. C. 362 in the neighbourhood of Man- 
tineia. His attack was so vehement that the enemy was over- 
powered at the first onset, and put to flight. But Epaminondas 
himself was mortally wounded, a spear having pierced his breast : 
he would not allow the weapon to be extracted from the wound, 
until he was assured that the victory was won. After this was 
done, he expired. The consequence of this battle, one of the greatest 
in Greek history, was that Thebes sank from the lofty position she 
bad for some time occupied, for her greatness had been owing solely 
to Pelopidas and Epaminondas; but the power of Sparta was like- 
wise broken. Both parties were weakened and exhausted, and 
remained quiet for a time; but peace was not concluded until 
the year following, B. c. 361, when independence was secured to 
the Messenians. Sparta alone could not bring herself to be a party 
to it. In the same year she was deprived of her great hero Agesi- 
laus. He had gone with an army to Egypt to support a rebellion 
against the king of Persia, and on his return, laden with booty, he 
died at a place on the Libyan coast. 

9. During the period which had just elapsed, a great change had 
taken place in the affairs of Greece. Formerly the citizens of every 
little state had joyfully tendered their service whenever their 
country stood in need of it, but it had now become a regular custom 
to engage mercenaries to fisht the battles, while the citizens 
20 * 



234 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

remained at home and enjoyed the pleasures and luxuries of life. 
Tbis new system was accompanied by all the evils that usually 
follow in its train, especially when a state is poor, as was then the 
case with nearly all the Greek republics. Athens, however, 
although in many respects she was not better than other states, 
still retained a vitality, and at times displayed an energy, which are 
truly astonishing, and show that her citizens had not become quite 
unworthy of those ancestors who fought the battles of Marathon 
and Salamis. But though we must admit this, it cannot be denied, 
on the other hand, that the ancient feeling of national honour had 
disappeared at Athens, for the demagogues betrayed and sold their 
counti'y, fully knowing what they were doing, and the people 
looked on with indiiference, being bent only on pleasure and amuse- 
ment. While all the states of Greece were more or less in this 
condition, a power was rising in the north and emerging from a 
state of barbarism, which in the end crushed the liberty of Greece. 
That power was Macedonia. 

10. Ancient Macedonia, about the time of Philip, extended in 
the south as far as mount Olympus and the Cambunian range of 
mountains, in the east to the river Strymon ; in the north and west 
the boundary line cannot be accurately marked ; but Philip, the 
father of Alexander, greatly extended his kingdom. The country 
forms a plain somewhat resembling an amphitheatre, surrounded on 
three sides by high mountains, but intersected by lower ranges of 
hills, which form wide valleys stretching from the sea-coast to a 
considerable distance in the interior. These valleys were as fertile 
as the best parts of Greece; the heights were richly wooded, and 
well adapted for pasture land; and several of them were rich in 
metals of every description. It has already been remarked, that 
the great body of the people were in all probability Pelasgians, 
mixed with Illyrians, and that the Greeks usually called them bar- 
barians. The ruling dynasty, however, claimed to be of Hellenic 
origin, and traced their descent to Caranus, a brother of the Hera- 
cleid king Pheidon of Argos. The kingly dignity wa> ::ever abol- 
ished in Macedonia, but maintained itself from the cjirliest to the 
latest times. The history of the kingdom, from its foundation 
down to the accession of Archelaus in B. c. 413, is almost buried in 
obscurity. The country appears to have been governed by several 
princes who were frequently at war with one another. Archelaus, 
who reigned from B. c. 413 to 399, laid the foundation of the great- 
ness of Macedonia, by building fortresses, making roads, and in- 
creasing the armies. He was also a great admirer of art and 
literature, and did much to introduce Hellenic culture among his 
subjects. He appears to have been murdered by his own friend 
Craterus, and was succeeded by his son Orestes, who, being a 
minor, was under the guardiansliip of Aeropus. During the first 



PHILIP OF MACEDONIA. 235 

four years Aeropuswas faithful to his ward, but durini; the last two 
he reigned alone, and was succeeded in B. C. 394 by his son Pausa- 
nias, who was assassinated the very year of his accession by Amyntas 
II. This last occupied the throne for a period of twenty-four years, 
from B. C. 393 to 369. Amyntas sided with the Spartans in their 
war against Olynthos and its confederacy. He also connected him- 
self with Jason, the tyrant of Pherae, and cultivated the friendship 
of the Athenians, with whom he sympathised in their hatred of 
Olynthos and of Thebes. Under him the seat of government seems 
to have been transferred from the ancient capital of ^geae (Edessa) 
to Pella. He died at an advanced age in B. C. 369, leaving behind 
him three legitimate sons, Alexander, Perdiccas, and the great 
Philip. Alexander, the eldest, seems to have reigned for two 
years ; and while he was engaged in a war against Alexander of 
Pherae, a usurper of the name of Ptolemy Alorites arose. Pelo- 
pidas the Theban being called upon to mediate between them, left 
Alexander on the throne, but took several hostages with him to 
Thebes. One of these hostages is said to have been the king's 
youngest brother Philip. But no sooner had Pelopidas left Mace- 
donia than Alexander was murdered, B. C. 367. Ptolemy Alorites 
now took possession of the supreme power ; but Pausanias, a new 
pretender, brought him into great difficulties, from which he was 
rescued by the intervention of Iphicrates, who established Perdiccas, 
the second son of Amyntas, on the throne, while Ptolemy retained 
the substance of power under the title of regent. The partizans 
of the late king again invoked the interference of Pelopidas against 
him, but he maintained himself in his position, and concluding a 
treaty with Thebes, he gave up the alliance with Athens. He con- 
tinued in the exercise of his power until B. C. 364, when he was 
assassinated by the young king Perdiccas, who now reigned in his 
own name until B. c. 359. The history of this latter period of his 
reign is very obscure, and we only know that he was engaged in 
hostilities against Athens on account of Amphipolis, and that he 
patronized and invited to his court the most eminent Greek philo- 
sophers and men of letters. He was killed in a war against the 
lllyrians. 

11. Philip, his brother, who was living at Thebes as a hostage, 
now made his escape to Macedonia, to establish his claims to the 
throne. The kingdom was in a most perilous condition : it was 
threatened by the victorious lllyrians, who had destroyed a great 
part of the Macedonian army, and by other neighbouring tribes. 
In addition 'to this, Philip was opposed by two pretenders, Pau- 
sanias and Argaeus, the former of whom was supported by the 
Thracians, and the latter by the Athenians. Pausanias was induced 
by Philip's liberality to give up bis claims, and Argaeus with his 
allies was defeated near Methone. The towns on the Thraciun coast 



236 HISTORY OF a REECE. 

were the cause of the first conflict between him and the Athenians, 
•who had been endeavouring to maintain or increase their maritime 
power. But their succ;essful days were gone ; their fleet under 
Lcosthenes was defeated by Alexander of Pherae, and they were 
unable to prevent their ancient colony of Amphipolis from falling 
into the hands of the Olynthians, B. c. 859. This was what Philip 
had wished, for his object was to drive the Athenians from the 
coast of Thrace, and to add it to his own empire. The year after 
this he also subdued the Paeonians, and all the country as far as 
Lake Lychnitis. During his residence at Thebes, Philip had be- 
come accjuainted with the civilisation of the Greeks ; and although 
he preserved the manners and customs of his own country, he 
always favoured and cherished Greek culture. With the prudence, 
cunning, and adroitness of an expert politician, he combined the 
talents of a general, the energy and perseverance of a soldier,, and 
the generosity and liberality of a king. He did not interfere with 
the customs and institutions of the nations he conquered, whence 
they felt the loss of their political freedom less painfully. His 
army, consisting of heavy-armed infantry, well-trained cavalry, and 
his brave body-guard, was far superior to the mercenary troops 
employed at that time by the Greek states, and fought for the 
honour and glory of their own nation. His heavy-armed soldiers 
formed the phalanx, which, though somewhat awkward, was irre- 
sistible. Being in possession of great wealth, he practised the art 
of bribery as successfully as that of arms. Promises and oaths 
were no obstacle to him, if by their violation he could gain his own 
ends. Unfortunately for Greece, Philip had at his command the 
forces of a united and compact kingdom, while Greece was torn to 
pieces by party spirit, weakened by the want of unity against the 
common enemy, and betrayed by unprincipled demagogues and 
orators. 

12. At the time when Philip was extending the frontiers of his 
kingdom in the west and in the east, Athens was unable to check 
his victorious progress, for she was already engaged in what is 
called the Social War, against her revolted allies, from B. c. 357 
to 355. The allies were headed by Chios, and with a fleet of one 
hundred galleys they ravaged Imbros, Lemnos, and Samos. Athens 
had able commanders in Timotheus and Iphicrates, but the enmity 
and short-sightedness of Chares, a man less able than either of 
them, drove them into exile, and the command passed into his 
hands. Owing to the negotiations he had entered into with a 
revolted Persian satrap, king Artaserxes II. threatened to support 
the allies with a large fleet. Athens therefore ordered Chares to 
suspend hostilities, and concluded a peace, in which she lost her 
most powerful allies, and with them the best part of her revenue. 
While these things were going on, Philip of Macedonia had inter- 



THE SACRED WAR. 237 

fered in th© affairs of Thessaly, where his assistance had been 
requested against the tyrant Lycophron of Pherae, the murderer 
and successor of Alexander. Philip acted with ciiere}^, and 
recovered freedom and independence for all the Thcssalian towns, 
in consequence of which, they supported him in his schemes for a 
long time. But he did not abolish the tyrannis at Pherae, as he 
saw that the tyrants also might be useful to him; and it was his 
connection with Pherae that opened to him the road to Greece, as 
Pherae supported the Phocians in the war in which they were soon 
afterwards engaged, and which is commonly called the Sacred, 
though it was in reality only a continuation of the Theban war. It 
lasted for ten years, from B. c. 355 to 346, and was carried on with 
unparalleled exasperation on both sides. 

13. The Thebans had resolved to avail themselves of the position 
they still occupied among the Greek states for the purpose of con- 
quering the Phocians. The ancient and obsolete council of the 
Amphictions was thought a fit instrument to accomplish this end, 
and an accusation was brought before it against the Phocians for 
having taken into cultivation a tract of land which had been re- 
garded as an accursed district, and had until then been a waste. 
The council of the Amphictions, according to the wishes of the 
Thebans, declared the Phocians guilty, and, demanding an exor- 
bitant fine, ordered them to destroy the work of their own hands. 
As the Phocians refused to obey the command, the Amphictionic 
states forthwith commenced hostilities against them. The Phocians, 
however, who had foreseen what now happened, had taken posses- 
sion of the Delphic temple and its treasures. The Thebans and 
Locrians were the first to commence the war to vindicate the 
honour of Apollo. The brave Philomelus was the soul of all the 
undertakings of tlie Phocians, and it was by his advice that they 
seized the treasui'es of the Delphic temple, and coined the enormous 
sum often thousand talents to defray the expenses of the war. For 
a time Philomelus and his mercenaries were successful, but in the 
end he was defeated in a bloody battle near Neon, B. c. 353, where- 
upon his brother Onomarchus undertook the command, for the 
Phocians were resolved to fight to the last. Onomarchus scrupled 
at nothing, and the sacred treasures "were lavishly employed in 
bribing as well in meeting the necessary expenditure. He subdued 
several Locrian towns, and even entered Boeotia, where he con- 
quered Orchomenos. 

14. Lycophron of Pherae had been gained over by the bribes 
of Onomarchus, and in the struggles between the Thessalians and 
their tj'rant, the Phocians had sent an auxiliary force to support" 
Lycophron, but had been defeated by Philip. Onomarchus, how- 
ever, soon after followed in person and routed Philip and the 
Thessalians in two battles. Philip t'hen returned to Macedonia to 



38 HISTORY OP GREECE. 

collect a fresh army, with which shortly after he re-appeared in 
Thessaly. Onomarchus acain wont to the assistance of Lycophron 
with a large army. A bloody battle was fought near Magnesia, in 
which the Macedonians proclaimed themselves the champions of 
Apollo and gained the victory. Athens and Sparta were allied 
with the Phocians, and Onomarcbus perished in attempting to reach 
the Athenian fleet which was stationed near Thermopylae. He 
was succeeded by his brother Pliayllus, whom Lycophron, when 
obliged to give up Pherae, joined with a large band of mercenaries. 
Philip attempted to penetrate into Greece by Thermopylae, but 
being prevented by the Athenian fleet, returned to Macedonia. 
He had, however, gained a right to interfere in the afl'airs of 
Greece, and the great Athenian orator Demosthenes, who already 
saw through the king's schemes, directed the attention of his coun- 
trymen to them in his first Philippic speech, which he delivered in 
B. c. 352. Meanwhile Phayllus continued the war with great 
vigour ; but he was repeatedly beaten in Boeotia, and at last, in 
B. c. 361, an illness terminated his life. Phalaecus, his successor, 
was at first likewise unsuccessful ; but Boeotia sufl^ered fearfully 
from the repeated inroads and devastations of the Phocians, and 
notwithstanding the Persian subsidies which Thebes received, the 
Phocians in the end defeated the Boeotians in a great battle at 
Coroneia, B. c. 346, in consequence of which many Boeotian towns 
fell into the hands of the enemy. 

15. In this distress the Thebans sought the assistance of Philip, 
who rejoiced at the opportunity thus oftered to him. As early as 
the year B.C. 353, the Olynthians and the other Chalcidian towns 
had concluded an alliance with Athens, to protect themselves against 
the encroachments of Philip, who, shortly after his return from 
Thermopylae, thinking the Athenians sufficiently careless about 
their allies, marched with a large army against Olynthos. The 
terrified Olynthians sent three successive embassies to Athens, and 
the eloquence of Demosthenes roused his countrymen to send aux- 
iliary forces, and even to attempt the formation of a confederacy of 
all the Greeks against Macedonia. However, nothing was able to 
check the king's progress. The Chalcidian towns were conquered 
one after another, and Olynthos itself was treacherously delivered 
up into his hands, and, like many other places, razed to the ground, 
B. c. 347. To lull Athens into security, Philip carried on negotia- 
tions for peace, while at the same time he continued his conquests 
on the coasts of Thrace. Demosthenes exerted himself in vain to 
open the eyes of the Athenians to the designs of Philip, and even 
the gi-eat orator himself was deceived in the end. It was at this 
juncture that the Thebans invited Philip to bring the Sacred War 
to a close. The Athenians, who were likewise tired of the war, and 
•unable to sustain any further losses, sent ambassadors to Philip to 



CONQUESTS OF PHILIP. 239 

conclude a peace with him. The king excluded the Phocians from 
the negotiations, in order not to ofif'end the Thebans, and also re- 
tained possession of the Athenian colony of Amphipolis. The peace 
was accepted at Athens, and another embassy went to Pella to 
obtain the king's signature. But the ambassadors were purposely 
detained while Philip continued his conquests in Thrace and made 
fresh military preparations. At length, however, he signed the 
peace at Phcrae, whither the ambassadors had followed him. But 
as soon as they left him, he passed through Thermopylae without 
meeting with any opposition. Phalaecus now despaired of hi? 
country's cause, and, concluding peace with Philip, took his depar- 
ture for Peloponnesus. The Phocians, thus forsaken by theii 
leader, surrendered, on the understanding that Philip would exer- 
cise his influence with the Amphictions in their behalf; but they 
were bitterly disappointed, and the verdict against them was most 
merciless : the Phocians were for ever excluded from the league, 
their arms had to be delivered up, their towns were destroyed, and 
the people were to live in open villages and to pay annually sixty 
talents to the temple of Delphi, until the god should be indemnified. 
This sentence was carried into execution by Theban and Macedo- 
nian soldiers, and ten thousand Phocians were transported to colo- 
nies which Philip had established in Thrace. Many Boeotian towns 
which were hostile to Thebes were given over to that city, and 
deprived of their walls, while a great number of their inhabitants 
were reduced to slavery. 

16. Philip had now gained one important step towards the supre- 
macy of Greece, which was the object of his ambition, for he stepped 
into the place of the Phocians in the Amphictionic league, and 
obtained the superintendence of the Delphic temple with the presi- 
dency at the Pythian games. The terrible fate of the Phocians 
alarmed the Athenians in the highest degree, but their fears were 
allayed by the fair intentions which the bribed ^schines ascribed 
to Philip, and as Athens was not in a condition to commence hos- 
tilities, even Demosthenes, in the end, advised his countrymen to 
keep peace, and give in their adhesion to the decree of the Anipbie- 
tious. During the whole period of the Sacred War, Sparta had 
been engaged in a contest in the hope of recovering her supremacy 
in Peloponnesus. With this view she waged war. against Mega- 
lopolis and Argos; and against the latter city, which was supported 
by Thebes, she was very successful. At the close of the Sacred 
War, in B. c. 346, hostilities were still going on ; Philip's gold had 
found its way even into Peloponnesus, where a Macedonian party 
was formed in several cities, and Sparta apprehended an invasion of 
the peninsula. Athens, also dreading this, endeavoured to deprive 
the king of every pretext for interfering by bringing about a peace 
among the Peloponnesian states. In the meantime, Demosthenoa 



240 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

convinced the Athenians that Philip had never honestly wished for 
peace, and that all his pretensions were mere blinds, his object 
being to crush the democratic constitution of Athens, and to make 
himself master of Greece. As the king had his agents scattered 
over all parts of the country, he was enabled for a time to turn his 
attention to other matters, and not only esttiblished colonies, embel- 
lished his capital, and vigorously worked the mines in Macedonia 
and Thrace, but subdued Illyricum and Thessaly. He then made 
himself master of Ambracia, but was prevented from advancing 
further south in that quarter by the precautions of Athens. He 
continued, however, his conquests on the coast of Thrace, where 
again he came into conflict with the Athenians, but nothing was 
able to rouse them to vigorous action against the intriguing Mace- 
donian, who, while professing to be concerned about the mainte- 
nance of peace, was doing all he could to stir up a war in Greece, 
in oi'der that he might have an opportunity of interfering. 

17. Meanwhile Phocion was counteracting the influence of Philip 
in Euboea and Megara, and even recovered Euboea for Athens. 
The events on the coast of Thrace at length began to rouse the 
slumbering energies of Athens, though not until even the king of 
Persia had shown symptoms of alarm. When Philip in B. c. 340 
laid siege to Perinthos and Byzantium, the Athenians prevailed 
upon Cos, Rhodes, and Chios, to support Byzantium, and the Per- 
sian king also sent an auxiliary force. Athens in vain endeavoured 
to bring about a general coalition among the Greek states against 
the aggressor. Phocion, who now undertook the command, suc- 
ceeded in repelling him, and the Athenians in their new ardour 
annihilated, in B. o. 339, all traces of peace and friendship with 
Macedonia. In the same year, Philip made an unsuccessful expe- 
dition against a Scythian tribe about the mouths of the Danube, 
and on his return he was met by envoys from the council of the 
Amphictions, who informed him that he was appointed commander- 
in-chief of the Amphictionic array in a war against the Locrians of 
Amphissa, who were charged with having taken into cultivation the 
plain of Cirrha which was sacred to Apollo. Philip himself had 
through his agents and hirelings stirred up this Sacred War. He 
of course readily accepted the new ofiice, and at once proceeded 
southward with an army much larger than was required against the 
single town of Amphissa. At the same time he tried to thwart the 
attempts of the Athenians to bring about a coalition against him, 
and stirred up the ancient animosity between Thebes and Athens. 
Amphissa was soon reduced, but as he nevertheless remained with 
his army in Lociis, and at the beginning of the following year sud- 
denly took possession of Elateia and Cytiuion, the astonished Greeks 
at once perceived his real object. Demosthenes' prophecies were 
now seen to be true, and under his guidance Athens concluded an 



BATTLE OF CHAERONEIA. 241 

alliance with Thebes. The Athenians were ready to do anything 
and to make any sacrifice to secure the independence of Greece. 
They were reinforced by a considerable number of troops from other 
states, which were at length roused to a sense of duty. The army 
of the Greeks was about equal in number to that of the Macedo- 
nians. The Greeks at first were successful, and Philip being 
defeated in two battles, began to despair, but in the autumn of B. c. 
338, a decisive battle was fought in the plain of Chaeroneia. The 
Greek commanders were not men of any great abilities, while the 
Macedonians, independently of Philip himself, were commanded by 
the experienced Antipater and the bold young Alexander, Philip's 
son. The issue of the battle was for a long time undecided, but in 
the end the Macedonians gained the victory. One thousand Athe- 
nians lay dead on the field of battle, and two thousand were taken 
prisoners; the Thebans also sustained great loss. 

18. The battle of Chaeroneia decided the fate of Greece. On the 
whole, Philip showed great moderation, for he treated the prisoners 
humanely, and restored them to liberty without ransom. He refused 
to inflict any severe punishment on Athens, and even offered peace 
on conditions which did not interfere with their political constitution. 
But the Athenians, when recovering from the first consternation, 
refused to listen to any proposals of peace, and were resolved to 
continue the struggle. Demosthenes and other patriots fanned the 
flame. But on cool reflection, it was found that their enthusiasm 
lacked the means of giving it effect; and an embassy was sent to 
Philip to accept and ratify the peace on the terms proposed by him. 
; The Athenians had to give up Samos, for which they received 
i Oropos, and promised to send deputies to a congress which was to 
i meet at Corinth in the spring of B. c. 337. It was Demosthenes 
wlio had urged his countrymen to the last struggle ; but though it 
had been undertaken in vain, the people of Athens honoured his 
patriotic zeal, by commissioning him to deliver the funeral oration 
on those who had fallen in the battle. The king of Macedonia 
henceforth was the real master of Greece ; but the administration 
of Athens was, during the unfortunate period which now followed, 
in the hands of men like Phocion, Demosthenes, and Lycurgus, 
who by their honesty and patriotic zeal kept Athens at the head of 
the Greek states, and raised her, comparatively speaking, to a high 
degree of prosperity. The Thebans were severely chastised for 
having abandoned the alliance with Philip'; the Cadmca was oc- 
cupied by a Macedonian garrison, and Thebes lost her supremacy 
over the Boeotian towns. In Peloponnesus, the Corinthians, 
Achaeans, Eleans, and the towns of Argolis submitted to him as 
their acknowledged sovereign. Even Sparta yielded, for she was 
weak and helpless. 

19. In the spring of B. c. 337, the congress of the deputies from 
21 



242 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

all the Greek states met at Corinth by command of Philip. Sparta 
alone kept aloof. There the king announced the final object of his 
undertakings to be the subjugation of Persia, and he himself wag 
appointed commander-in-chief for the national war with unlimited 
power. The contingents to be furnished by the Greek states were 
fixed, and Philip made preparations on the largest scale. Some de- 
tachments of troops under Attalus and Parmenio were sent at once 
into x\sia; but Philip himself was yet detained in Europe to settle 
some family disputes, and to quell an insurrection in Illyricum. 
His wife Olympias, the mother of Alexander, had spent some time 
away from the court, and when a reconciliation was effected, Philip 
endeavoured to strengthen it by giving his favourite daughter Cle- 
opatra in marriage to Alexander of Epirus, a brother of Olympias. 
In the autumn of B. c. 336, brilliant festivals were celebrated at 
^^geae in honour of this marriage. In the midst of these festivities 
Philip was murdered at the entrance of the theatre by one Pau- 
sanias, who had a private grudge against him. His son Alexander 
was only twenty years old, but the people and the army demanded 
his succession. He had already distinguished himself on several 
occasions; and his energy and genius peculiarly qualified him to 
rescue the kingdom from its perilous condition, for Greece was in 
commotion to assert its independence, the barbarous nations in the 
north and west were trying to shake off the recently imposed yoke, 
and at the court itself there were conspirators aiming at the life of 
the young king. His genius, however, overcame all dangers ad 
difficulties. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE REIGN OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 

1. Philip's son Alexander, surnamed the Great, had received 
the most careful education under the superintendence of Aristotle, 
the greatest of all ancient philosophers. Under his training the 
young prince had become a perfect Greek, and a lover and admirei 
of Greek art and literature. When the news of his father's death 
and his own accession reached Athens, the patriots, among whom 
Demosthenes was foremost, exerted tliemselves once more, and a 
decree was forthwith passed, to honour the king's murderer with a 
crown, and to protest against his son's assuming the supremacy in 
Greece, for it was imagined that the young king might easily be kept 
at bay ; but they knew not his energy and his spirit. His first care 
was to get rid of those who were inclined to dispute his succession, 



REIQN OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 243 

Attalus, who had already been sent into Asia, and claimed the 
throne of Macedonia for a son of Philip's second wife Cleopatra, 
was despatched by an assas.sin ; and when Alexander had secured 
himself against all pretenders, he marched into Thessaly to assert 
his supremacy over Greece sword in hand. The Thessalians after 
Bome slight resistance gave way, and recognising his claims at once 
promised to furnish their contingents whenever he should require 
them. With unexampled rapidity he proceeded southward, wher*^ 

' no one expected him. At Thermopylae the Amphictions did 
homage to him, but as deputies from Thebes, Athens, and Spirta 
did not appear there, he marched into Bocotia, and encamped before 
the gates of Thebes. This at once convinced the Athenians that 
they had judged him wrongly, and an embassy was forthwith sent 
to sue fur pardon, which was granted on condition of Athens sending 
deputies to the congress at Corinth, whither Alexander himself went 
from Euboea. There all the Greek states, with the exception of 
Sparta, accepted the king's " peace and alliance." He himself 
was appointed, in the place of his father, commander-in-chief of 
the Greeks against Persia, and all the states promised their contin- 
gents. The congress of Corinth, which had the superiutendenco 
of all the national affairs of Greece, remained assembled until 

i, Alexander's death. 

:i 2. The submission of Greece being thus secured, the young king 
returned in B. c. 335 to Macedonia, and immediately proceeded, 
with the most extraordinary rapidity and energy, against the 
northern and western barbarians, who threatened hi-; kingdom. He 
humbled the Triballi between mount Haemus and the Danube, and 
even crossed that river to strike terror into the Getae who dwelt on 
its eastern banks. On his return thence he directed his arms 
against the Illyrians, in whose mountainous country his army was 
often in most perilous positions; but his quickness and personal 
bravery overcame all difficulties, and the conquered chiefs were 
compelled to do homage to him. He was, however, detained in 
Illyricum longer than had been anticipated, and reports were spread 
in Greece of his being defeated and killed. These rumour.-; were 
eagerly caught up by the parties hostile to Macedonia in the different 
states of Greece, and a large sum of money which the king of Persia 
caused to be distributed among them produced the desired effect. 
Several states at once rose in arms, but Athens and Thebes distin- 
guished themselves above all others by their zeal. Demosthenes^ 
and Lycurgus induced the Greeks to decree war against Macedonia 
and defend their independence. At Thebes the Macedonian gar- 
rison was besieged in the Cadmea and two officers were put to death. 
Suddenly, while the siege was still going on, Alexander appeared iu 
Boeotia with an army of twenty-three thousand men, with whom ht' 
had come from Illyricum in an incredibly short period Every offor 



244 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

of reconciliation was rejected by the Thebans, and, after a brave de- 
fence, the city was taken by Alexander. Fearful vengeance was 
now inflicted upon the place; the Cadmea was saved, but the city, 
with the exception of the temples and the house of the poet Pindar, 
was razed to the ground ; the inhabitants, with the exception of the 
priests, were sold as slaves; their number amounted to twenty 
thousand, while six thousand had fallen in battle. This fearful 
fate of Thebes was not wholly vindeserved, for she had at times 
acted with the same merciless cruelty towards her weaker neighbours. 

3. The fall of Thebes made a deep impression upon all the 
Greeks, and the Athenians, being again the first to change their 
minds, sent ambassadors to implore the king's mercy. The request 
was granted on condition that they should deliver up to him the 
leaders of the party hostile to him, especially Demosthenes and 
Lycurgus. This demand, however, was not insisted upon, for Alex- 
ander, being anxious to win the affections of the Athenians, even 
condescended to flatter them. It may be said in general that he 
was desirous by kindness and benevolence to secure tranquillit3'- 
among the Greeks during his Asiatic expedition, upon which his 
mind was bent. In the autumn he quitted Greece, and during the 
ensuing winter made his preparations against Persia. In the spring 
of B. c. 334, he set out with an army of thirty thousand foot and 
five thousand horse for Amphipolis and thence proceeded to Sestos, 
where a fleet was in readiness to transport his forces into Asia. 
Although his army was small, he felt sure of victory, for he knew the 
incfiicieucy of the myriads which the king of Persia had to oppose 
to him. Antipater was left behind as regent of Macedonia during 
his absence. His army consisted chiefly of Macedonians and other 
subject nations, for the Greek states are said to have furnished only 
about seven thousand men. But a far larger number of Greeks, 
unable to bear the Macedonian yoke, had left their country to serve 
under the king of Persia, and among them were some men of great 
military talent, such as Memnon the Rhodian, who commanded all 
the naval forces of Persia, and kept up connections with the Greeks 
in Europe. His death in B. C. 333 was a great i-clief to Alexander. 

4. The Persian empire, which was at this time governed by 
Darius, surnamed Codomannus, had been in a state of decay ever 
since the time of Artaxerxes II., who reigned from B. c. 405 to 
359. The voluptuous and licentious court, with its intrigues of 
women and its cruelties, presents a revolting picture of oriental 
baseness. In the interior of the empire we find the unbridled 
despotism of the ruler, along with anarchy and insubordination in 
the provinces, which produced revolts and bloody oppression. Some 
provinces made themselves independent, and the great king at Susa 
did not possess the power to reduce them to obedience ; in others, 
the satraps ruled at their own discretion, and oppressed their sub. 



LAST KINGS OT PERSIA. 245 

jects with impunity, if they did but pay their tribute to the sove- 
reiirn. The whole empire became like a rotten building which only 
required a strong shock from without to crumble into ruins. When 
Artaxerxes II. was despatched by poison he was succeeded by his 
son Ochus, from B. c. 359 to 338, under whom the eunuch Bagoas, 
a monster in human form, had all the power in his own hands. 
Under his administration the empire would have broken to pieces, 
had not the blood-thirsty king and his terrible eunuch, by means 
of hosts of mercenaries, crushed the insurrections that broke out 
in various parts of his empire. Phoenicia threw off the Persian 
yoke, and, restoring its ancient federal constitution, made Tripolis 
its capital, B. c. 350; but the fall of Sidon, when forty thousand 
men killed themselves, that they might not be tortured to death by 
the Persians, and the city was reduced to a heap of ashes, made the 
other cities yield, and the Persian rule was once more established 
in the countries about mount Lebanon. In Egypt matters took a 
similar turn ; for Nectanebos, after several successful contests, was 
defeated by the superior tactics of the Persian mercenaries in B. C. 
347, and was obliged to fly into Ethiopia, whereupon Ochus and 
Bagoas raged with even greater fury and cruelty than Cambyses had 
done at the first conquest of the country. After a reign of twenty- 
two years, Ochus and his whole house were murdered by Bagoas, 
and after an interval of two years the throne was ascended by Da- 
rius Codomannus, B. C. 336, a man of mild and affectionate cha- 
racter, but unfit to govern such an empire as Persia then was. As 
his life was not safe against the attacks of Bagoas, he got rid of 
the eunuch by poison, and afterwards displayed as much moderation 
and justice as was possible under the deplorable circumstances of 
the empire; but Darius had to pay the penalty for the crimes of 
his predecessors. 

5. When Alexander, in the spring of B. c. 834, crossed the Hel- 
lespont, he was accompanied by poets, historians, and philosophers, 
who were to immortalise his deeds, as those of Achilles had been 
immortalised by Homer; but in this anticipation he was disap- 
pointed, for among all those who have written about Alexander 
there is none that approaches the ancient bard of Greece. His 
generals, Cleitus, Parmenio, Hephaestion, Craterus, Ptolemy, Anti- 
gonus, and others, were the first of the time, and two of them, 
Ptolemy and Aristobulus, subsequently wrote accounts of their 
master's expedition, i)ut their works are lost. On his arrival in 
Troy, Alexander celLi.rated games and offered up sacrifices in 
honour of the heroes oi' the Trojan war, among whom Achilles was 
the ideal which he is said to have striven to imitate. He delighted 
the Greeks by his love and admiration for their great heroes, while 
he cheered on the Macedonians by his chivalrous courage, his valour, 
and his adroitness. What such an army under such a leader was 
21* 



246 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

capable of effecting, became manifest in the very first encounter 
with the enemy on the little river Gran ions, B. c. 834, where the 
Persians were defeated, although their numbers far surpassed those 
of the young Macedonian. The result of this victory was the sub- 
mi.'jsion of nearly all Asia Minor, as far as Mount Taurus. Hali- 
carnassus, which was bravely and skilfully defended by Greek 
mercenaries, was taken by assault, and the other Greek cities, sub- 
mitting, for the most part of their own accord, welcomed the hero 
who boasted of being a Greek like themselves, and promised to re- 
store their ancient democratic constitutions. The most important 
islands of the ^Egean fell into his hands, at the time when the 
enterprising Memnon of Rhodes, who had stirred up Sparta and 
other Greek states with Persian gold, suddenly died. In conse- 
quence of this, the Lydians, Carians, and l^ampliylians likewise 
acknowledged his supremacy, and retained their ancient institutions. 
At Gordium Alexander cut with his sword the famous knot at the 
ancient royal carriage, the untying of which was connected by an 
oracle with the dominion of all Asia. After this he marched 
through the dangerous mountain country of Cilicia, where, by 
bathing in the icy waters of the river Cydnus, he brought on a 
serious illness, from which he was saved only by the skill of his 
Greek physician Philip, and by his own faith in human virtue j for 
he had been cautioned in an anonymous letter against Philip, who was 
said to have been bribed by the Persians to poison him ; but with- 
out giving way to suspicion, Alexander took the draught prepared 
by Philip, and, while drinking it, handed the anonymous letter to 
hira. 

6. Darius, who had hitherto remained unconcerned in his capital 
of Susa, and had neglected to guard the mountain passes, now ad- 
vanced with a large army to meet the enemy near the passes loading 
from Cilicia into Syria, but was completely defeated, in B. c. 333, 
in a great battle near Issus. The unfortunate king fled with the 
remains of his cowardly army into the interior, while Alexander 
made preparations for subjugating Palestine and Phoenicia, for he 
could not with safety leave these countries unsubdued in his rear. 
His general, Parmenio, in the meantime conquered the wealthy 
city of Damascus with its royal treasures. The booty which Alex- 
ander made at Issus was immense, and among his numerous 
prisoners were the mother, wife, and two daughters of Darius, 
whom the conqueror treated with kindness and generosity. Pales- 
tine and Phoenicia offered no resistance, but the city of Tyre in its 
proud feeling of greatness and of its insular security, haughtily 
spurned the demand to surrender. Alexander now undertook the 
memorable siege of Tyre, which detained him seven months. lie 
constructed a causeway fortified with towers from the mainland to 
the island ; from it his soldiers attacked the city with all the means 



SIEGE OF TYRE. 247 

which the military art could then devise, while his fleet, which had 
becQ increased by those of Rhodes and Cyprus, blockaded the city 
by sea. But the Tyrians thwarted all his plans by skilful counter- 
operations, and oflered a most desperate resistance. At length, 
however, they had to succumb, and experienced the same merciless 
fate as Thebes, for all the inhabitants who were unable to escape, 
were massacred or sold into slavery, and the city was razed to the 
ground, B. C. 332. The commerce of which Tyre had until then 
been the centre, was afterwards transferred to Alexandria, which 
Alexander, after his conquest of Egypt, caused to be built at the 
mouth of the Nile, in the most convenient situation for connecting 
the eastern with the western world. Gaza, a well fortified and 
bravely defended frontier town, experienced a fate similar to that 
of Tyre. Egypt, on the other hand, where the Persians were hated 
and detested, welcomed the Macedonians as its deliverers, and x\lex- 
ander treated their national and religious feelings and peculiarities 
with a consideration which the Persians had never shown them. 
From Egypt he marched to the famous Oasis of Siwah with its 
celebrated oracle of Ammon, the priests of which declared him a 
son of the god: this, with the superstitious and imaginative nations 
of the East, greatly increased his authority, and made him appear 
in their eyes as a being of a higher order. 

7. While Alexander was engaged in Egypt, Darius had time to 
assemble fresh forces and prepare for a great struggle, which was 
to decide the fate of his empire. But before venturing upon this 
final step, he endeavoured, by certain concessions, to make peace 
with Alexander. The Macedonian's mind, however, was not 
set upon peace, and quitting Egypt with his army, which had 
been increased by fresh reinforcements, he advanced towards the 
Euphrates and Tigris, which he crossed, and in the plains of Gau- 
gamela, he defeated, in B. c. 331, the hosts of the Persians which 
had assembled from the eastern parts of the empire, and are said 
to have been twenty times as numerous as the army of Alexander. 
The consequence of this great victory was, that the Macedonians 
became masters of Babylon and its fertile territory, and of the 
ancient capitals of Susa, Persepolis, and Ecbatana, with their vast 
treasures. Persepolis was recklessly destroyed by fire, but its ruins, 
with their sculptures and inscriptions, still attest the greatness and 
magnificence of the ancient residence of the kings of Persia. Darius, 
after his defeat, fled from Ecbatana into the mountainous country 
of Bactria, where he was killed by the treacherous hand of his own 
satrap Bessus, who now assumed the title of king of Persia ; but 
soon afterwards, the traitor was overtaken and captured by the 
Macedonians, who nailed him to a cross. 

8. During the years B. c. 329 and 328, Alexander, by the boldest 
marches through the snow-covered mountains of the Indian Cau- 



248 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

casus, where his soldiers ahiaost perished with hunger and fatigue, 
succeeded in making himself master of the countries on the south- 
east of the Caspian, and about the rivers Osus and Jaxartes (Aria, 
Hyrcania, Bactria, Sogdiana, and others), which were inhabited by 
hardy and warlike tribes. At this stage of his progress, he appears 
to have aimed not merely at making conquests, but civilising the 
wild and barbarous tribes of Asia ; for four new towns, all bearing 
the name of Alexandria, were founded by him in the distant East, 
as centres of Greek civilisation and of commerce. Some of these 
cities, as Herat and Candahar, exist even at the present day under 
altered names. At Bactra, Alexander, in B. c. 328, solemnized 
his marriage with Roxana, the daughter of a Bactrian chief, ^' the 
pearl of the East," who had fallen into his hands during the con- 
quest of a strong mountain fortress, into which the natives had 
carried their women and treasures. As he still continued to ad- 
vance eastward, the Macedonians repeatedly expressed their dis- 
content with the insatiable ambition of their king ; but he neverthe- 
less pushed onward, for the wondrous country beyond the Indus, 
about which so many marvellous tales were current, seems to have 
had irresistible attractions for him. He crossed the Indus in 
B. c. 327, not far from the modern town of Attok. But the war- 
like inhabitants of the Punjaub, excited by their priests, offered a 
more vigorous resistance than the cowardly subjects of the king of 
Persia had done, and Alexander was more than once in imminent 
danger, as he was always foremost in the assaults upon the fortified 
strongholds of the natives. But the mutual jealousy of the petty 
chiefs facilitated the conquest of the country by the Macedonians. 
Several, and among them Taxiles, whose dominion was situated on 
the east of the Indus, allied themselves with Alexander against 
Porus, the most powerful of the Indian princes on the east of the 
Hydaspes. The jiassage of this river, under the very eyes of the 
enemy, and the subsequent battle, in which the brave Porus was 
wounded and taken prisoner, while twenty thousand Indians covered 
the field of battle, are among the greatest military feats in all 
ancient history. Two newly-founded cities, Bucephala, so called 
in honour of Alexandei''s charger Bucephalus, and Nicaea, were 
intended to spread Greek civilisation even in India. Alexander 
then continued his march to the river Hyphasis, on the frontiers 
of the Punjaub, and was making preparations for penetrating into 
the country of the Ganges, which he intended to add to his empire. 
But now the discontent of the Macedonians was expressed so loudly 
and unreservedly, that Alexander, though with great reluctance, 
resolved to return. Twelve stone altars which he erected on the 
banks of the river, were designed to mark the eastern boundary of 
his gigantic empire. He restored to Porus and the other princes 
who had entered into alliance with him their territories, on condition 



Alexander's measures in persia. 249 

of their recognising his supremacy ; and after having undertaken a 
bold expedition against the Malli, and founded a town, Alexandria, 
at the junction of the Hydaspes with the Indus, he sailed down 
with a fleet built on the Hydaspes, in order to examine the mouth 
of the Indus and the ocean. 

9. The result of this voyage of discovery was, that Alexander's 
admiral, Nearchus, was ordered to sail with the fleet along the 
coast of the modern Beloochistan, while the king himself with his 
army returned through the fearful Gedrosian desert, where the 
burning heat of the sun, and the want of water in a sea of dust and 
sand, combined with hunger and fatigue, in the course of two 
months, B. C. 326, destroyed three-fonrths of his army. The war- 
riors who in so many battles had braved every peril, there died a 
miserable death in the desert. Alexander, it is true, shared all 
hardships and dangers with the meanest of his soldiers, and cheered 
the survivors with presents and festivals when they had escaped 
from the desert; but the undertaking had nevertheless been reck- 
less in the highest degree, and the excess in which his men indulged 
after their escape, was almost as fatal as had been their previous 
want. 

10. When Alexander reached Persia, B. c. 325, he dismissed 
the Macedonian veterans who had become unfit for further service, 
with rich presents, under the command of Craterus, who led them 
back to Europe. Many of the men whom he had appointed satraps 
before going to India had committed various acts of oppression, in 
the belief that Alexander would never return ; but all these were 
now taken to account and punished, and the king set about the 
task of uniting the conquered nations with the conquerors into one 
great nation, to be kept together by the bond of Greek civilisation. 
With this object in view, it is said, he did not treat the Persians as 
a conquered people, but endeavoured to win them by mild treat- 
ment, and by respecting their national customs and ideas. It may, 
however, be doubted whether the means he adopted were calculated 
to produce the desired effect, and whether his object was not rather 
to change his Macedonians and Greeks into obedient and servile 
Asiatics. At all events, his adopting the style and pomp of an 
eastern monarch, his surrounding himself with Persian attendants, 
and his exacting from the Macedonians the prostration and adora- 
tion which eastern nations were, and still are in the habit of show- 
ing to their rulers, can scarcely be called a means of hellenizing 
the Orientals. The union between the East and the West was 
consolidated by intermarriages. Alexander himself set the exam- 
ple, by taking a second wife, Barsine, the eldest daughter of Darius; 
about eighty of his generals received Asiatic wives, assigned to 
them by their king, and ten thousand other Macedonians chose 
Persian women for their wives, with whom they received rich 



250 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

dowries from tlie king. The solemnities of these marriages occupied 
five days, and were accompanied by the most brilliant festivities 
and amusements. But these measures, while no doubt they pleased 
some, at the same time offended the feelings of many Macedonians 
and Greeks, who could not brook the idea of the conquered bar- 
barians being raised to an equality with themselves. A mutiny 
broke out in B. c. 324, during a review of the troops at Opis ; but 
the king quelled the rebellion, partly by severity and partly by 
prudence. Philotas, the head of the malcontents, was put to death, 
and his aged father Parmenio was murdei'ed at Ecbatana. 

11. Whatever may have been Alexander's motives when he first 
adopted the Persian court ceremonial, certain it is, that afterwards 
he retained it because it gratified his personal feelings to see him- 
self worshipped as a demigod, and to be approached with servile 
prostration. In these feelings he was confirmed by base flatterers 
and sophists, while more honest men, such as the philosopher Callis- 
thenes, who openly rebuked the king for his conduct, were treated 
with revolting cruelty. His court at Babylon, which he chose as 
the cajjital of his empire, in B. c. 324, was of the most brilliant 
kind, and ambassadors appeared before him from the remotest parts 
of the world to do homage to the conqueror of Asia. Among other 
nations of western Europe, the Romans also are said to have hon- 
oured him with an embassy. His name must at that time have 
been familiar to all nations, from the borders of China to the shores 
of the Atlantic. Banquets and drunken riots followed one another 
in rapid succession, and under such exciting influences the king 
sometimes committed acts of which he afterwards bitterly repented, 
such as the murder of his brave general Cleitus, who had saved his 
life in the battle on the river Granicus, but had now provoked the 
king's anger during a banquet, by ridicule and scorn. Alexander 
did not intend to rest satisfied with the conquests he had already 
made; he was engaged at. Babylon with vast schemes for fresh 
enterprises, as well as with the establishment of useful institutions 
in various parts of his enormous empire. He contemplated the 
conquest of Arabia, Africa, Sicily, Italy, and Spain. But his body 
sank under the excitements and exertions required for the super- 
intendence of his great preparations. About the middle of the year 
B. c. 323, he was attacked by a fever, which terminated his life in 
the course of eleven days, at the early age of thirty-two years. He 
died without having appointed a successor, but is said to have given 
liis seal-ring to Perdiccas, and when asked to whom he left his 
empire, to have replied, "to the most worthy." His body was 
embalmed, and in B. c. 321, it was conveyed to Alexandria in Egypt, 
the greatest and most important of all his colonies. 

12. Alexander does not belong to the history of Macedonia or 
Greece only; from China to the British islands, his name appears 



INTLUENCE OF ALEXANDER. 251 

in the history or early poetry of every country. In the East he is 
still the hero of ancient times, and the tales of the exploits of 
Iscander are still listened to with delight by the people of Asia. 
Upon that country in particular his conquests made a lasting im- 
pression ; for although his empire was dismembered after his death, 
the Greek colonies he had founded there long survived him ; and 
from the ruins of his empire, kingdoms were formed as far as India, 
which maintained themselves for centuries. New fields were 
opened to science and discovery, and it is mainly due to him that 
eastern Asia became accessible to European enterprise. Asia Minor, 
and Egypt in particular, became the centres of all intellectual and 
literary life, as well as of commerce and industry. Geography and 
ethnology were extended and corrected ; the military art was im- 
proved by the assistance of mathematical science, though the use 
of elephants in war, which was imported into Europe from the 
East, was rather a step backward towards the clumsy method of 
eastern warfare. The practical sciences, especially mathematics, 
mechanics and natural history, upon the extension of which Alex- 
ander had spent large suras, received new f )rms and a broader basis. 
The fine arts and literature, on the other hand, sank more and more ; 
the age was one of reflection rather than production, and the influ- 
ence of the East soon became manifest in the colossal and fantastic 
productions of art. 

13. While Alexander was engaged in the conquest of Asia, Agia 
III., king of Sparta, in B.C. 333, put himself at the head of a 
Peloponnesian confederacy, to throw oif the Macedonian yoke, and 
connections were formed with the satraps Pharnabazus and Auto- 
phradates, the successors of Memnon, who furnished the Greeks 
with ships and money. The Athenians also resolved to support the 
insurgent Greeks with a fleet of one hundred galleys; but the 
decree was cancelled, on the suggestion of Demades, because the 
money was wanted for the amusement of the people. Athens 
accordingly remained quiet, and Alexander on several occasion? 
showed his respect to the x\thenians by sending them reports of his 
victories, presents of suits of Persian armour, and the statues of 
Harmodius and Aristogeiton, which had been carried away from 
Athens by the Persians. Agis gained a victory in B. c. 331 over 
the Megalopolitans, who had refused to join the confederacy, and 
this gave fresh courage to the Greeks. But Antipater, the regent 
of Macedonia, who had in the meantime received large sums of 
money from Asia, invaded Peloponnesus with an army of forty 
thousand men. A great and decisive battle was fought near iEgae, 
not far from Megalopolis, in which the Spartans notwithstanding 
their great valour, were overpowered and lost not only their king, 
but upwards of five thousand brave soldiers. Sparta, thus humbled, 
sued for peace and pardon j and the congress of Corinth, to which 



252 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

her requests were referred, decreed that she should join the Greek 
confederacy, and pay one hundred and twenty talents as an indem- 
nification to Megalopolis. 

14. Greece now remained quiet for some years, until the news of 
Alexander's death was the signal for fresh struggles in all parts of 
the empire. Shortly before his death, in B. C. 324, Alexander him- 
self had thrown a firebrand into Greece, by a proclamation which 
he caused to be made at the Olympic games, ordering that all the 
exiles should be restored to their respective homes in Greece. The 
Thebans alone were excepted from this apparent amnesty — the real 
object of which, however was to strengthen the Macedonian party 
ill those states of Greece, the fidelity of which could not be trusted. 
The property of the twenty thousand exiles to whom the proclama- 
tion referred, had in the meantime passed into other hands, and the 
message accordingly created great exasperation and opposition. An 
embassy sent to Babylon to remonstrate with the king produced no 
eflfect, and open resistance was thought of. This feeling was fostered 
by Harpalus, Alexander's treasurer, who a little before had secretly 
quitted Asia with a large sum of mone}', thirty ships, and six thou- 
sand mercenaries. Leaving the greater part of his treasures at 
Taenaron in Laconia, he proceeded to Athens, where many were 
found willing to avail themselves of his money against Macedonia. 
But as Antipater demanded his surrender, Harpalus made his 
escape, and taking with him his treasures from Taenaron, he went 
to Crete, where he was slain by a Lacedaemonian, who fled with his 
money to Cyrene. The Athenians, alarmed by the threats of Anti- 
pater, instituted inquiries to discover who had accepted money from 
Harpalus. Many men of note became implicated, and among them 
was Demosthenes, who was sentenced to pay a fine of fifty talents, 
and, being unable to raise that sum, fled to ^gina, and thence to 
Troezen, where he remained in exile until, soon after, he was 
recalled by his fellow-citizens, but he never ceased to exert himself 
for the independence of Greece. 

15. "When at length the news arrived that Alexander had died 
at Babylon, the Athenian people in their delight disregarded the 
warnings and admonitions of men of experience and property, who 
were, on the whole, favourable to Macedonia, because peace was 
maintained under its supremacy, and peace at any price seems to 
have been their motto. Just at this time Leosthenes, an Athenian 
of great military renown, happened to arrive from Asia with a body 
of eight thousand mercenaries, and by the request of the Athenians 
retained them, until the necessary preparations for open war could 
be completed. The friends of Macedonia were expelled, and on 
the recommendation of the orator Hyperides and a few other en- 
thusiastic patriots, the Athenians resolved to equip a large fleet, and 
all Greeks were called upon to assert their independence. Many 



THE L AMI AN WAR. 253 

refused to join from jealousy of Athens, but an army was neverthe- 
less raised, amounting to thirty thousand men, to which Athens and 
the ^tolians furnished the largest contingents. Leosthenes was 
appointed commander of the allied troops, and after having forced 
his passage through Boeotia, he took possession of the°pass of 
Thermopylae. Antipater was in a difficult position, for the lUyrianf 
and Thracians were likewise rising against Macedonia; but he 
quickly invaded Thessaly, and at the same time sent to Asia for re- 
inforcements. When the hostile armies met near the Trachinian 
jHeracleia, the Thessalian cavalry went over to Leosthenes, and 
I Antipater was obliged to retreat. He threw himself into the town 
I of Lamia, and being besieged by Leosthenes, made proposals of 
I peace. _ The Athenians, flushed with their success, demanded the 
unconditional surrender of the regent. This, however, was refused, 
'and events immediately occurred which changed the aspect of 
affairs. The ^tolians left the allied army, because they had to look 
after their own affairs at home, and Leosthenes died in consequence 
'of a wound he had received at Lamia. He was succeeded in the 
commandby the youthful Antiphilus. Meantime Leonnatus having 
ariived with a large force from Asia, and entered Thessaly, Anti° 
philus raised the siege of Lamia and fought a pitched battle against 
the troops of Leonnatus, who was himself slain. Antipater escaping 
from Lamia, rallied his troops in Thessaly, and being joined by 
Craterus, who had likewise arrived from Asia, he fought a great 
battle near Crannon, B. c. 322. The Macedonians gained the day, 
and the Athenian army was twice defeated by that of Macedonia. 
The towns of Thessaly surrendered at once, the allied forces dis- 
persed, and each state concluded peace for itself. The ^toliaos 
land Athenians alone remained in arms. 

16. Antipater now advanced into Boeotia, demanding of the 
Athenians to surrender the enemies of Macedonia. Demosthenes, 
Hyperides, and other patriots took to flight. Several embassies 
were sent to Antipater to obtain favourable terms, but the conqueror 
insisted upon Athens surrendering at discretion, delivering up the 
leaders of the anti-Macedonian party, paying the expenses of the 
:wa,r, and receiving a Macedonian garrison in Munychia. The Athe- 
nians were obliged to submit, and after the garrison had entered 
Munychia, their democratic form of government was changed into 
a timocracy, in which only nine thousand citizens retained the 
ifcinchise. Many thousands quitted the city and went into exile. 
The patriots who had taken to flight were in their absence sentenced 
to death. Demosthenes, the noblest and purest of them, had taken 
refnge in the temple of Poseidon, in the island of Calaureia, where, 
on discovering that he was no longer safe, he took poison which he 
had for some time been carrying about with him. The war which 
was thus brought to a close is generally called the Lamian ; in it 



254 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

Athens lost her freedom and her constitution. After having hum- 
bled Athens, Antipater and Craterus set out against the ^tolians ; 
but before thej could effect anything, they were obliged to give up 
the undertaking, in consequence of the disturbances, which had 
broken out in Asia. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER, UNTIL THE TIME OF THE 
ACHAEAN LEAGUE. 

1. As Alexander had left no heir capable of filling the throne, 
there being only his weak-minded brother Arrhidaeus, and two 
inflmt sons, the youngest of whom was not born till after the king's 
death, his vast empire broke to pieces more rapidly than it had 
been conquered. After many and bloody wars, in the course of 
which the whole family of Alexander was extirpated, and the most 
sacred ties of nature rent asunder and trodden under foot, his 
generals took possession of the separate countries of which the 
empire was composed, and raised them to the rank of independent 
kingdoms. At first Perdiccas, to whom Alexander is said to have 
given his seal-ring, enjoyed the highest authority, and undertook 
the office of regent of the whole empire for Arrhidaeus. But when, 
in conjunction with the brave and prudent Eumenes, he made war 
upon Ptolemy, the governor of Egypt, he was murdered by his own 
soldiers at Memphis in B. C. 321. After this, Antigonus, a warlike 
and very talented general, acquired the greatest power in Asia 
Minor, and undertook a new division of the empire, while the rough 
but honest Antipater, and his domineering son Cassander, kept 
Macedonia and Greece in their hands. Antipater died in b. c. 318, 
having appointed the aged Polysperchon, an Epirot prince, his suc- 
cessor and guardian of the royal family, who were kept at Pella in 
a sort of splendid captivity. But Cassander, Antipater's son, m 
B.C. 815, deprived Polysperchon of his position, and caused Alex- 
ander's mother Olympias, who had in B. C. 317 murdered Archidaeus 
and his wife Eurydice, to be stoned to death ; some years later, 
B. C. 311, he put to death Roxana with her young son Alexander, 
and in B. C. 309, caused Heracles, a son of Alexander by Barsine, 
to be strangled during a banquet. Thus every member of the 
family of the great conqueror died a violent death, and the fiite of 
some was truly tragic. 



STRUGGLES AMONG THE SUCCESSORS. 255 

2. Meanwhile, the armies of Antis^onus were fighting in Asia 
against Eumenes, and the power of the former was still on the in- 
crease, when Eumenes, after a fierce struggle of several years, in 
which the chivalrous Craterus also had fallen, was taken prisoner 
by him, and died in a dungeon, B. o. 316. Antigonus now took 
possession of the treasures at Susa, and increased the number of his 
mercenaries so much, that he was able to bid defiance to all the 
other generals, and to compel them to acknowledge him as regent 
of the empire, and as their master. But as it soon became eviden 
that he aimed at nothing short of the empire of Alexander, and as 
he deprived his ally Seleucus of the governorship of Babylonia, the 
four most powerful generals, Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus (who 
had put himself in possession of Thrace), and Cassander, allied 
themselves against Antigonus and his son Demetrius, who after- 
wards obtained the surname of Poliorcetes. This led to a general 
and long protracted war against Antigonus, B. c. 815, which was 
carried on with varying success in xVsia and Europe, and terminated 
in B. c. 311. Towards the close of it, in B. c. 312, Seleucus, after 
a victory over Demetrius at Gaza, succeeded in establishing him- 
self in Babylonia and the eastern provinces, and this year accord- 
ingly is the first of what is called the era of the Seleucidae, who 
governed the Syrian empire until b. c. 65. In the peace concluded 
in B. c. 311, the whole empire of Alexander was parcelled out among 
the competitors. Some years later, a fresh war broke out, in which 
Ptolemy suffered a great defeat near Salamis in Cyprus, B. C. 306, 
whereupon Antigonus and Demetrius assumed the title of king in 
their dominions. Their opponents, Cassander, Ptolemy, and Lysi- 
machus did the same. But an unsuccessful attack made by Anti- 
gonus upon Egypt, and the heroic defence of Rhodes against Deme- 
trius, who, although a master in all the arts of besieging, was unable 
to conquer the city, kept matters for some years in a state of un- 
certainty, until, in B. C. 301, the great battle of Ipsus in Phrygia 
decided the case in favour of the three adversaries of Antigonus, 
who himself fell at the advanced age of 80, while his son Deme- 
trius was obliged to take to flight. In the peace which was then 
concluded, Macedonia, Thrace, Syria, and Egypt, were recognised 
as four independent kingdoms. 

3. During these wars among the successors of Alexander, Greece 
was not in the enjoyment of peace, and Athens in particular expe-. 
rienced several times a change of masters. During the quarrel be- 
tween Polysperchon and Cassander, the former, in order to attach 
the Greeks to himself, proclaimed the freedom of the Greek states, 
the restoration of democracy, and the recall of the exiles. Nicanor, 
who had been appointed by Cassander commander of the Macedo- 
nian garrison at Munychia, refused to evacuate the place, and was 
supported by the aristocratic party at Athens, who were favourable 



256 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

to Macedonia. Phocion also assisted him. Polysperchon at length 
sent his own son Alexander with an army against Nicanor, but 
without effect. The democratic party at Athens naturally favoured 
Polysperchon, and its leaders accused Phocion and his friends of 
high treason, in consequence of which he was sentenced to death,> 
and in B. C. 317 cheerfully drank the fital hemlock. Soon after- 
wards Cassander, who had in the meantime collected money, ships, 
and mercenaries in Asia, entered Piraeus. Polysperchon also ap- 
peared, but, leaving his son Alexander to carry on the operations 
against Cassander, he marched into Peloponnesus with an army of 
twenty thousand men, and conquered the whole of the peninsula, 
with the exception of Megalopolis. The Athenians being pressed 
by two hostile armies, concluded peace with Cassander, in which 
their independence was secured, and their franchise extended. At 
the same time, however, Cassander appointed Demetrius of Pha- 
leron, a celebrated and popular orator, governor of Athens. His 
administration lasted from B. C. 318 till 307, during which period 
the prosperity of Athens visibly revived. The popularity and 
admiration which he at first enjoyed, is manifest from the fact, 
that the people erected three hundred and sixty statues to him ; 
but his subsequent extravagance made him more odious even than 
a tyrant. 

4. During the struggles among the generals of Alexander, Greece 
was always the bone of contention. Antigonus, like Polysperchon, 
■was anxious to win the favour of the Greeks, and with this view 
declared himself the champion of the independence of Greece, and 
of the members of the royal family; in B. C. 314, Ptolemy also 
declared the Greeks to be free. But such proclamations were mere 
words, as none had the power of giving effect to them. Cassander, 
however, by ordering, in B. C. 315, Thebes to be rebuilt, gained 
more popularity than the others did by their high-sounding but 
empty proclamations. He also reconciled himself with Polysperchon, 
after the death of his son Alexander, by assigning to him the 
supreme military command in Peloponnesus, where the Macedonian 
power was weakened by Antigonus. While the struggle was thus 
going on in Peloponnesus, Ptolemy appeared in Greece, B. C. 312, 
and took Euboea, Boeotia, Phocis, and Locris from Cassander, who 
was thus obliged to abandon Greece, and return to Macedonia. In 
the general peace of B. C. 311, the independence of Greece had 
been guaranteed ; but the terms of that peace were kept only so 
long as it suited the interest of the contracting parties. Cassander, 
however, being ruler of Macedonia, possessed great influence in the 
affairs of Greece, until, in B. c. 308, he came to an arrangement 
with Ptolemy, in which it was agreed that both parties should 
lemain in the undisturbed possession of those parts of Greece which 
they had conquered. 



DEMETRIUS POLIORCETES. 257 

5. When Demetrius of Phaleron bad governed Athens for about 
ten years in the name of Cassander, and bad by his reckless con- 
duct become as detested as he had before been admired, Demetrius, 
the son of Antigonus, suddenly appeared with a large fleet bef ire 
Piraeus, proclaiming himself the champion of freedom, and pro- 
mising to restore to the Athenians their democratic form of govern- 
ment, B. C. 307. He was received with great enthusiasm, and De- 
metrius of Phaleron, who was allowed to depart in safety, went to 
Thebes, and afterwards to Ptolemy, in Egypt. Munycbia, however, 
had to be conquered by force of arms. Demetrius now restored to 
the Athenians their ancient democratic constitution, and caused 
vast quantities of corn to be distributed among the people. The 
grateful Athenians overwhelmed both father and son with the most 
extravagant honours, and even proceeded to worship them as gods. 
But this joyous enthusiasm did not last long; Demetrius soon after 
quitted Athens, the scene of his great triumph, and hurrying from 
one enterprise to another, was in the end taken prisoner, and died 
as an exile in Syria. When Athens had recovered her popular 
government, the democratic and Macedonian parties immediately 
renewed their struggles. The popular or patriotic party was headed 
by Deraochares, a sou of the sister of Demosthenes, a sincere and 
honest lover of his country and its constitution. Severe measures 
were adopted to protect the liberty of the people against unpatriotic 
influences, but it was to no purpose : the dream of freedom soon 
vanished. While Demetrius Poliorcctes was engaged in the E;ist, 
the Macedonians recovered their ascendency in Greece. Polysper- 
chon, who had been kept employed in Peloponnesus by (hssander, 
conquered the greater part of the peninsula, and Cassander invading 
Attica, laid siege to Athens. The city was ably defended by the 
noble Demochares; but in the meantime Demetrius Polioreetes, 
after concluding peace with the Rhodians, arrived with a large fleet 
at Aulis, and by a rapid succession of victories, put an end to the 
government of Cassander in Greece. The towns thus delivered 
from the Macedonian yoke vied with one another in showering 
honours upon Demetrius, and at a congress held in Corinth he re- 
ceived the supreme command over all Greece. But he had by this 
time become an insolent and voluptuous tyrant, and his short stay 
at Athens, during which he exiled the patriotic Demochares, was 
not calculated to regain for him the affections of the people. 

6. Just at the time when Demetrius was proceeding northward 
against Cassander, he was recalled to Asia by his father Antigonus, 
against whom, as has been already noticed, a coalition had been 
formed by Cassander, Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus. The 
result- of this was the decisive battle of Ipsus, B.C. 301, in which 
Antigonus lost his life, and his kingdom was divided between Lysi 
machus and Seleucus. Demetrius fled to Greece, where he hoped 



258 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

to establish a new kingdom for himself; but as tlio Athenians 
refused to admit him within their walls, and as nearly all Pelopon- 
nesus had declared in favour of Cassander, he went to Thrace, where 
he took the Chersonesus from Lysimachus, and allied himself with 
Seleucus of Syria, by whose aid he gained several advantages in 
Asia. In the meantime Leochares, supported by Cassander, had 
set himself up as tyrant at Athens, and was conducting himself 
with unexampled fury and cruelty. When Demetrius was informed 
of this, he quickly hastened to Athens, and took the city by storm. 
Ptolemy, who had come to assist the tyrant, was obliged to retreat. 
This happened in b. c. 295 ; and Demetrius, on entering the city, 
to the great astonishment of all, pardoned their past conduct, and 
distributed one hundred thousand bushels of grain among the fam- 
ishing people. But to secure himself for the future, he placed 
strong garrisons at Munychia and Piraeus, and fortified the hill of 
the Museum. He then marched into Peloponnesus, and appeared 
before the gates of Sparta, when again he was suddenly obliged to 
turn his attention in a different direction. Cassander of Macedonia 
died in B. c. 296, and was succeeded by his son, Philip IV., who, 
however, died the year after, leaving the succession disputed by his 
two brothers, Antipater and Alexander. Antipater, the elder, killed 
his mother Thessalouice, a daughter of king Philip, because he 
believed her to favour his brother. Hereupon Alexander applied 
for assistance to Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, and to Demetrius. In 
the meantime, Antipater, who had fled to Lysimachus for support, 
was murdered, and Alexander, finding the presence of Demetrius 
in Macedonia inconvenient, tried to get rid of him. But Demetrius 
anticipated him; he slew him, and ascended the throne of Mace- 
donia himself, B. C. 294. He then drove Pyrrhus back into his 
own kingdom, and reigned for a period of seven years, during which 
nearly all Greece paid homage to him and his son Antigonus 
Gonatas. Not satisfied with his empire, he formed the plan of re- 
conquering what he and his father had lost in Asia. Pyrrhus was 
induced to make war against him by the princes whose dominions 
were threatened by Demetrius ; and when the armies met, the troops 
of Demetrius went over to Pyrrhus, who was extremely popular in 
Macedonia. Pyrrhus now took possession of the throne, B. c. 287 ; 
but after the lapse of seven months, he too was expelled by Lysi- 
machus, who then ruled over Macedonia for five years, from B. c. 
286 to 281. Demetrius never returned to Macedonia; but after 
various misfortunes, he died as a prisoner of Seleucus in Syria, 
B.C. 283. 

7. At the time when Pyrrhus was raised to the throne of Mace 
donia, Athens again rose to assert her freedom. The Museum was 
stormed, the garrisons were expelled from the port-towns, and the 
Macedonians were defeated near Eleusis. Pyrrhus, who wa.s well 



LYSIMACHUS, 259 

disposed towards the Athenians, allowed thera the enjoyment of 
their ancient freedom. Demochares, returning from exile, managed 
the affairs of his country till about B. C. 280, in the most admirable 
manner, and for a time Athens once more enjoyed the happiness 
of former and better days. Lysimachus concluded a treaty of 
friendship with her, and did not interfere with her administration, 
in which law and order had been restored. After expelling Pyrrhus, 
he united Macedonia with his dominions in Thrace and Asia, but 
domestic misfortunes brought about his downfall. At the instiga- 
tion of his second wife Arsinoe, he put to death his excellent son 
Agathocles, whose wife Lysandra fled to Seleucus imploring him to 
avenge the death of her husband. In the ensuing wai', a decisive 
battle was fought, in B. C. 281, at Cyrupedion near Sardes, in which 
Lysimachus was defeated and killed. Seleucus was now anxious to 
gain possession of Macedonia and Thrace, but was assassinated near 
Lysiinachia on the Hellespont by Ptolemy Ceraunus, a son of 
Ptolemy Soter, who had been deprived of the succession in Egypt 
by the intrigues of his mother Berenice. Ptolemy Ceraunus now 
ascended the throne of Macedonia, compelled the widow of Lysi- 
machus to marry him, and caused her children to be murdered 
before her own eyes. But he did not enjoy his bloody supremacy 
more than two years. 

8. This was the time of a great migration of the Celts, some 
of whom came down upon the plains of Lnmbardy, while others 
descended into the peninsula south of mount Haemus. In B. c. 
280 a swarm of them invaded Macedonia, and in an engagement 
with them Ptolemy Ceraunus lost his life ; but Sosthenes, the bravo 
Macedonian general, checked their victorious progress. Another 
army, however, of the same race of barbaiians marched southward 
with the intention of plundering the temple of Delphi, while one 
detachment marched into ^tolia. The Greeks were resolved to 
defend themselves against the invaditig hordes. When the bar- 
barians approached Delphi, in B. C. 279, they are said to have been 
terror-struck by the same miraculous phenomena which had saved 
that city during the invasion of Xerxes. They suffered immensely, 
their king Brennus fell, and the remaining hosts dispersed, some 
settling on the Danube, others in Thrace, and others again crossing 
over into Asia Minor, where in after times they were known by the 
name of the Galatians. 

9. After the fall of Ptolemy Ceraunus, in B. c. 280, Antigonus 
Gonatas ascended the throne of Macedonia, of which he maintained 
possession until his death in b. c. 239, with the interruption of a 
period of two years (b. c. 274-272), during which Pyrrhus, after 
his return from Italy, occupied it ; but when Pyrrhus had fallen at 
Argos, Antigonus remained the acknowledged ruler of the kingdom 
and of Greece, though in the latter country his authority had to be 



260 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

established by force of arras, and even this succeeded only partially. 
As soon as peace and order were restored in Macedonia, he had to 
■undertake a war against Athens, which had recovered its inde- 
pendence during the first reign of Pyrrhus. The war broke out in 
B. c. 209, apparently because the Athenians refused to admit a 
Macedonian garrison. Although they were supported by Sparta 
and the king of Egypt, they were compelled, in b. C. 262, after a 
siege of seven years, to surrender, and Macedonian garrisons again 
entered Munychia, Piraeus, and the Museum. But Antigonns 
treated the city with comparative mildness, for he did not interfere 
with its democratic constitution, and soon afterwards even evacuated 
the Museum. The presence of the garrisons in the port-towns, 
however, daily reminded the Athenians of their real condition. 
This state of things lasted until B. c. 229, when Aratus, then at the 
head of the Achaean league, prevailed upon the Macedonian com- 
mander, by means of a bribe, to evacuate the port-towns. Atheii.s 
then, though free, was politically too weak to join the Achaean 
league, as Aratus wished But she nevertheless remained the in- 
tellectual centre of Greece, and it was owing in a great measure to 
her influence that Rhodes, Alexai^dria, Antioch, and Pergamus 
began to foster and cherish the arts and literature of Greece. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

MACEDONIA AND GREECE DOWN TO THEIR CONQUEST BY THE 
ROMANS. 

1. After her struggle with Antigonus Gonatas, Athens with- 
drew from the scene of great political events ; but Sparta had still 
to pass through a succession of violent changes and revolutions, 
which both darken and brighten the last period of her history. 
The ancient constitution of Lycurgus was still preserved, but its 
observance was a mere matter of form ; its spirit had long ceased 
to exercise any influence upon the Spartans. The ephors had 
become the highest authority in the state, and the kings, who were 
little more than the representatives of two ancient families, some- 
times went out as commanders of bands of adventurers, and sold 
their services to foreign states. The number of Spartan citizens 
had become enormously reduced, and all the wealth of the country 
was possessed by a few families, and in some instances had fallen 
into the hands of women, who, as wealthy heiresses, attracted more 
attention and exercised more influence than was compatible with 



THE ACHAEAN LEAGUE. 261 

the good of the state. Although, throughout the Macedonian 
period, Sparta had with a considerable degree of firmness resisted 
the demands of the Macedonian rulers, still she did nothing for the 
liberation of Greece, and in the time of Demetrius, slie escaped 
being conquered by him only by an accident. Sparta was then sur- 
rounded by walls, which alone shows that the ancient spirit of its 
citizens was gone. Once only, during the invasion of Pelopon- 
uesus by Pyrrhus, the Spartans showed that their ancient valour 
had not quite vanished. 

2. This wretched condition of the state induced king Agis IV. 
(b. C. 244-241) to attempt a thorough reform of the constitution. 
Supported by the ephor Lycurgus and the younger generation of 
the Spartans, he carried several laws to relieve the poor, who were 
overwhelmed with debt ; a fresh division of the land was to be 
made ; four thousand five hundred lots were to be set apart for the 
Spartans, whose numbers were to be supplemented by Laconians, 
and fifteen thousand for the Laconians. This and other measures 
were meant to revive the spirit of the ancient constitution. His 
colleague Leonidas, who opposed the reforms, was deposed, and 
sent across the frontier, and all obstacles seemed to be removed. 
But during an expedition which Agis undertook against the 
Achaeans, Leonidas was recalled by a party at Sparta, and Agis on 
his return was treacherously seized and put to death, together with 
his mother and grandmother. His wife Agaitis, who was as en- 
thusiastic for reforms as her husband had been, afterwards married 
Cleomenes IIL (B. c. 236-220), the last Heracleid king. Cleomene? 
now completed by force the work commenced by Agis. He began 
by causing the ephors to be murdered, and then carried the can- 
celling of debts and the distribution of the land without opposition 
Everything went on successfully and promised the return of a happj 
age, when a war with the Achaean league brought about the 
downfall of Cleomenes and of Sparta. 

3. Throughout the historical period of Greece, the Achaeans 
had acted a subordinate pnrt; but at the time of the Macedonian 
domination they appear to have conceived the idea that union alone 
could save Greece, and prevent the country from becoming a men 
province of Macedonia. Twelve towns of Achaia had from earlj 
times formed a sort of loose confederacy; but in B. C. 280 four of 
them drew more closely together for the express purpose of driving 
the Macedonians from Peloponnesus. In B. c. 275 other towns 
joined the league, the importance of which continued to increase, 
until it reached its most flourishing point in B. c. 251, when Aratus 
became its strategus, and united his native city of Sicyon with the 
confederacy. According to the constitution of the league, all the 
members formed one state, at the head of which was a strategus, the 
central government being at iEgion. The cities composing the 



262 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

leagne, both large and small, had one vote each, and sent their 
deputies annually. The stratcgus, who had the executive and 
the supreme command in war, was assisted by two other officers, the 
bipparchus and the secretary, and by a senate, in which each town 
was represented by one deputy. This league and its constitution, 
though it was not free from serious defects, yet through the wi'^e 
conduct of the best of its gtrategi, continued for a comparatively 
long period to enjoy the respect of foreign powers as well as of the 
Greeks themselves. 

4. /V similar leasrue was formed anion"; the ^tolians about the 
same time; but its objects were not so patriotic, for the ^tolians 
did not look beyond the promotion of their own interests. Tlio 
.iS^tolians were distinguished for their bravery and energy ; but had 
remained behind in the career of Greek civilisation, and were in fai t 
semi-barbarians. The constitution of their league resembled that 
of the Aehaeans, and was essentially democratic; its annual meet- 
ings were held at Thermos. The power of this league rose very 
rapidly, for Phocis, the Ozolian Locrians, the Cephallenian islands, 
and portions of Acarnania, Thessaly, and Peloponnesus, belonged 
to it. The ^Etolians, like the Aehaeans, pretended indeed to fight 
against foreign influence and on behalf of the independence of 
Greece ; but they were rude, quarrelsome, foithless, and, above all, 
bent upon plunder and rapine. 

5. From the year B. c. 251, Ai-atus was the soul of the Achaean 
league, even when he was not invested with the office of strategus, 
to which he was elected twelve times. The object which he steadily 
pursued was to destroy the power of the tyrants who, during that 
period, set themselves up in nearly all the Greek cities under the 
protection of Macedonia, and to unite all Peloponnesus under one 
democratic constitution. He eifected much as a statesman by his 
prudence and eloquence, but he was wanting in resolution and per- 
sonal courage. In b. c. 243, when he was strategus for the second 
time, he expelled the Macedonian garrison from Acrocorinthus, and 
prevailed upon the Corinthians, and soon afterwards upon the 
Megarians, to join the Achaean confederacy. About the year 
B. C. 226, when Aratus was strategus for the eleventh time, the 
league had gained, besides, the towns of Troozen, Epidaurus, Phlius, 
Hermione, and Argos. Three years before, he had delivered 
Athens from its Macedonian garrison, though that city was not able 
to join the confederacy. During this period, the .^tolians evinced 
a spirit hostile to the Aehaeans, and even went so far as to conclude 
a treaty with Antigonus Gonatas about a divi.'-ion of Achaia. In 
the meantime, the reforms of Cleomenes not only strengthened 
Sparta internally, but increased her power and influence among the 
neigh,bouring states of Peloponnesus. Argos and Mantineia were 
subdued; and Cleomenes strove to recover for Sparta her ancient 



ANTIGONUS DOSON. 263 

supremacy in the peninsula. Sparta thus aimed at the same object 
as Aratus, and a conflict was unavoidable. Neither party was 
willing to give way, and in B. c. 224, the Achaeans not only 
resolved upon war against Sparta, but Aratus so far forgot the 
objects of the Achaean league as to solicit the aid of Macedonia. 

6. Antigonus Gonatas, king of Macedonia, had died in B. c. 230, 
^and had been succeeded by his son Demetrius, who reigned until 
B. C. 229. At his death, his son Philip was still under age, and 
the guardianship was undertaken by Antigonus Doson, who faith- 
fully disch;irged his duties as regent and guardian until B. C. 220, 
when Philip ascended the throne. Aratus had been in negotiation 
with Antigonus Doson even before war was declared against Sparta, 
and the king bad readily promised his assistance. When the war 
broke out, Cleomenes was eminently successful, and defeated the 
Achaeans in three battles. Many towns fell into his hands, and 
he then laid siege to Acrocorinthus. He neglected no opportunity 
of offering to enter into negotiations for peace; but Aratus was 
short-sighted enough to surrender Acrocorinthus to Antigonus 
Doson, who demanded that fortress as a pledge and as a point from 
which he might carry on his military operations. As the ^"Etolians 
were in the possession of the pass of Thermopylae, Antigonus had 
to take a circuitous route, but when he arrived on the Isthmus, his 
presence changed the whole ;ispect of things. Cleomenes ofl'ered a 
brave resistance, but was obliged to return to Sparta in consequence 
of his wife's death. In the spring of the following year, B.C. 223, 
Antigonus set out for Arcadia, and being joined by the Achaeans, 
he took possession of several important towns without Cleomenes 
being able to prevent it. In the following winter, however, the 
Spartan king gained some advantages, and in the spring of B. c. 
222, he advanced up to the very gates of Argos. But soon after, 
Antigonus invaded Laconia with an army of thirty thousand men. 
Cleomenes had pitched his camp at Sellasia, north of Sparta, and 
here a great battle was fought, B. c. 221, in which Philopoemen of 
Megalopolis, then serving in the ai-my of the Achaeans, decided the 
victory. Cleomenes escaped with only a few horsemen to Sparta, 
but not feeling safe, he sailed to his friend, king Ptolemy III. at 
Alexandria, by whom he expected to be supported in continuing 
the war; but Ptolemy died soon after, and his successor, a volup- 
tuous libertine, kept Cleomenes like a prisoner. An attempt to 
excite the people of Alexandria against their contemptible rider 
failed, and Cleomenes and his friends in despair made away with 
themselves, B. C. 220. His mother and children, who had followed 
him to Alexandria, were put to deuth, and died in a manner worthy 
of Sparta. After the victory of Sellasia, Antigonus took Sparta 
without resistance. Respect for its past glory induced the con- 
queror to treat it with moderation. The ancient constitution was 



264 HISTORY OF GREECE, 

restored, and the ephoralty revived ; but tbe line of Heracleid kings 
had become extinct, and Sparta had to keep a Macedonian garrison. 
Immediately after this, Antigonus was recalled to Maeedonia, which 
had in bis absence been attacked by the Illyrians. 

7. The battle of Sellasia had indeed broken the power of Sparta, 
but the independence of the Achaean league was likewise gone, for 
Acrocoriuthus, one of the three fetters of Greece, remained in the 
hands of the Macedonians, and the Achaeans could undertake 
nothing without their sanction — and all this was the work of the 
short-sighted policy of Aratus. Antigonus Doson died in B. c. 220, 
and the throne was then occupied by Philip V., the son of Deme- 
trius, who was only seventeen years old. He was a quick and 
enterprising young man, who, in the course of his long reign, from 
B. c. 220 to 179, displayed great military abilities. The beginning 
of his reign is marked by the outbreak of what is called the Social 
War, which was occasioned by Sparta. Lycurgus obtained by pur- 
chase from the ephors the dignity of king, and after having gut rid 
of the last member of the Heracleid family, and constituted himself 
sole king of Sparta, he entered into an alliance with the iEtolians 
against the Achaeans and Macedonians. Aratus took the field 
against the ^tolians, who had already invaded Arcadia, but was 
defeated, and the iEtolians, meeting with no further opposition, 
returned across the Isthmus, ravaging the country as they advanced. 
This happened in B. c. 220, and was the beginning of the Social 
War, in which the Achaeans, supported by Philip, the Boeotians, 
Phocians, Epirots, Acarnanians, and Messenians, fought against the 
^toliaus, Spartans, and Eleans, for a period of three years. In 
B. C. 219, Philip himself entered jEtolia with an army, and ravaged 
the country as far as the mouth of the Achelous. In the following 
winter, he invaded Elis and Arcadia, where he destroyed the 
strongholds of the ^tolians, while they made inroads into Epirus 
and Achaia. In the spring of B. c. 218, Philip again entered 
jEtolia, and having taken Thermos, its capital, traversed Pelopon- 
nesus to its southernmost point. But when he left the i)enisula, 
the ^tolians reduced the Achaeans to great straits; and in addi- 
tion to this, Philip, whose attention was attracted by the Hanni- 
balian war in Italy, was anxious to get rid of the petty disputes 
among the Greeks, and concluded, in B. c. 217, a peace with the 
^tolians, who were to surrender to him Acarnania, but retained 
the undisturbed possession of all other places they had conquered. 
The Achaeans, who were thus abandoned to their fate, were natu- 
rally displeased with the king's measure. Aratus remonstrated 
with nun for his conduct, but was soon after silenced for ever by 
being poisoned by Philip's orders, B. C. 213. 

8. Philip's warlike disposition was stimulated by Demetrius of 
Pharos, who, considering himself wronged by the Romans, had 



SECOND WAR BETWEEN MACEBONIA AND ROME. 265 

gone to the court of Macedonia. After the battle of Cannae, in 
B. c 216, Philip concluded a treaty with Hannibal, in consequence 
of which a Roman fleet was stationed at Tarentum, to protect Italy 
against an invasion from Macedonia. In the following year the 
Romans gained possession of several towns of Illyricum, though 
the country still remained subject to Macedonia. The Romans 
being too much occupied at home to make any great exertions 
against Philip, stirred up an enemy against him in Greece, by con- 
cluding a treaty with the -^tolians, B. c. 211. In this new alliance 
they were joined by the Eleans, Messenians, Lacedaemonians, a-nd 
by the kings of Illyricum, Thrace, and Pcrgamus, while Philip was 
supported by the Achaeans, Boeotians, Thessalians, Acarnanians, 
Epirots, Euboeans, Phocians, Locrians, and by king Prusias of 
Bithynia. Greeks were thus once more arrayed against Greeks, 
and fightjng for the interests of foreigners, who took part in the 
war only when it suited their convenience. This was the work of 
the Romans, who gained several advantages for the jT^tolians, and 
urged them on to continue the war, so that tbe attempts of the 
Athenians, Rhodians, and others to bring about a peace led to no 
results. After the year B. C. 20G, the Romans themselves ceased 
to take part in the war; and the consequence was that the iEtolians 
found themselves obliged to conclude peace with Philip on bis own 
terms, B. c. 205. At leugth, b. c. 204, a peace was also brought 
about between Philip and the Romans, who received some portions 
of Illyricum, and it was stipulated that neither party should attack 
the allies of the other. 

9. While this war was going on in the north, hostilities had also 
been continued in Peloponnesus. In B. c. 208 Philopoemen was 
strategus of the Achaeans ; he was distinguished both as a states- 
man and as a general, and acquired extraordinary influence over 
the Achaeans, who were becoming weary and indift'erent. His first 
operations were directed against Sparta, where, after the death of 
the usurper Lycurgus, in B. c. 211, JNIachanidas had set himself up 
as tyrant; he had from the first indulged in hostilities against the 
Achaeans, but in B. C. 207 Philopoemen defeated him in a great 
battle near Mantineia. In the same year, Nabis, a bloodthirsty 
monster, usurped the t^Tannis at Sparta, and made the city feel all 
the horrors for which the tyrants of that period are notorious in 
Greek history. 

10. The peace which Philip had concluded with the Romans 
does not appear to have been made by him with the intention of 
keeping its terms; for he deprived the young Egj'ptian king Ptolemy 
Epiphaues of his possessions in the north of the jEgean, although 
he was under the protection of Rome, and not long afterwards he 
laid siege to Athens, in consequence of the following circumstances : 
— Two Acarnanian youths, who were staying at Athens, and were 

23 



266 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

believed to have profaned the Eleusinian mysteries, were murdered 
during the religious excitement of the people. The Acarnanians 
thereupon, supported by Macedonia, invaded Attica, and ravaged 
the country. The Athenians, being allied with Attains, king of 
Perganius, and with the Rhodians, declared war against Philip, 
who forthwith proceeded with a fleet to blockade Athens. Assisted 
by a Roman squadron, the Athenians succeeded in repelling him, 
in revenge for which he destroyed everything he could reach in 
Attica. The aid of Rome, when formally solicited by the Athe- 
nians, was not withheld, and in B. c. 200 the consul Sulpicius 
Galba commenced the second war of the Romans against Mace- 
donia. The two belligerent parties had the same allies as before. 
During the first years the Romans carried on the war without 
energy, but in B. c. 198 T. Quinctius Flamininus undertaking the 
command, at once succeeded in gaining over the Achaeans, so that 
now both the ^tolians and Achaeans fought on the same side. 
Flamininus advanced from Epirus into Thessaly, while Philip with- 
drew from Macedonia. Negotiations were commenced, but as they 
led to no results, the great battle of Cynosccphalae was fought in 
B. c. 197, which ended in the total defeat of Philip — a result 
mainly owing to the valour displayed by the j9^]tolians during the 
engagement. Peace was then concluded and sanctioned by the 
Roman senate, in B. c. 196, on condition that Philip should with- 
draw all bis garrisons from the Greek cities, the most important of 
which, Acrocorinthus, Demetrias, and Chalcis, were to be occupied 
by the Romans. The Athenians received the islands of Paros, 
Imbros, Delos, and Scyros, but j9^]gina was given to Attains. The 
^tolians made no secret of their dissatisfaction with these arrange- 
ments, but openly declared that the fine promises of Flamininus 
about the freedom of Greece were without meaning so long as the 
Romans kept garrisons in the three most important fortresses. 

11. In B. c. 196 the Isthmian games happened to be celebrated, 
and Flamininus on that occasion solemnly proclaimed before the 
assembled Greeks the freedom and independence of their country. 
The announcement was received with the most extravagant joy and 
enthusiasm. Flamininus, however, remained in Greece, for Antio- 
chus the Great, king of Syria, being stirred up by Hannibal, was 
making great preparations for war, and Nabis, the tyrant of Sparta, 
refused to give up Argos. Flamininus, in conjunction with the 
Achaeans, soon succeeded in liberating Argos, and even attacked 
Sparta, while the Rhodian and I'crgamenian fleets took possession 
of tiie maritime towns of Laconia. These losses obliged Nabis to 
submit to a peace, dictated by Flamininus, B.C. 195. He was 
deprived of the maritime towns, which were declared free, and had 
to pay a heavy sum of money, but he nevertheless remained tyrant. 
As he was always hostile to the Achaeans, who had assisted in con- 



THE iETOLIAN LEAGUE BROKEN. 267 

quering him, they complained of the leniency of Flamininus towards 
him, and in this sentiment they were joined by the ^tolians. In 
B. c. 194 the Romans indeed evacuated the three fortresses, but 
the ^tolians nevertheless urged Nabis on to recover the maritime 
towns which had been ceded to the Achaeans. A war thus arose 
between the tyrant and the Achaeans, and the latter being com- 
manded by Philopoemen, blockaded their enemy in the city of 
Sparta. The ^tolians, who ostensibly came to his succour, mur 
dered him, and took possession of the citadel ; but the Spartan 
recovered it by storm, and nearly all the ^tolians were cut to 
pieces. During the confusion Philopoemen made himself master 
of the city and of Laconia, and in B. c. 192 added both to the 
Achaean league, which now embraced the whole of Peloponnesus. 

12. The jEtolians entertaining an implacable hatred against the 
Romans, invited Antiochus, king of Syria, to come to Greece, the 
conquest of which they represented to him as a matter of no great 
difficulty. In B. c. 192 Antiochus arrived, and many of the Greeks 
at once joined him ; but he was not provided with a sufficient array, 
nor did he act with sufficient quickness and decision. In the 
spring of B. c. 191 he was defeated by the consul M. Acilius Gla- 
brio at Thermopylae, and immediately returned to Chalcis, whence 
he crossed over into Asia. But the Romans did not allow his in- 
vasion of Greece to pass with impunity, as we shall see in the his- 
tory of Rome. Another victory was soon gained over the .^tolians, 
who were thus compelled to sue for peace. A truce was at length, 
B. C. 190, granted to them for six months ; and when at the expi- 
ration of it they recommenced hostilities, the Romans at last, in B. c. 
189, compelled them to accept the following terms : — To recognise 
the supremacy of Rome, to conclude an offensive and defensive alli- 
ance, to dismiss from their confederacy all the towns out of ^tolia, 
and to pay a heavy sum of money to defray the expenses of the war. 
The power of the JEtolian confederacy was thus for ever annihilated, 
though the league continued a weak and helpless existence a long 
time afterwards. 

13. In B. c. 188, a few years after the capture of Sparta by Phi- 
lopoemen, a fresh war broke out between the Achaeans and Spar- 
tans, because the latter had taken forcible possession of one of the 
coast towns. Both parties referred the case to Rome, but received 
equivocal answers, until in the end Philopoemen restored a num- 
ber of persons who had been exiled by Nabis, put the leaders of the 
anti-Achaean party to death, and made several violent reforms, 
going even so far as to compel the Spartans to abolish the ancient 
constitution of Lycurgus, and establish a democracy. The Spar- 
tans bore these wanton insults with deep but suppressed indignation, 
as they were unable to oli'er resistance, or to obtain aid from the 
Romans. In b. c. 183, the Messenians revolted against the 



268 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

Achaeans. Philopoemen marched against them ; but on his way 
he was surprised and overpowered by some Messenian horsemen, 
who conveyed him in a dying state to Messene. The enraged Mes- 
senians ordered him to be put to death, and he drained the poison- 
cup with calmness and intrepidity. He was succeeded in the office 
of strategus by Lycortas, father of the historian Polybius, under 
whom the Achaeans reconquered Messene, and took revenge for 
the murder of Philopoemen, by putting to death the most conspi- 
cuous among the Messenians. But peace and order were not re- 
stored by such measures, and the time was fast approaching when 
the mighty hand of Rome was to silence all disputes, by depriving 
the several states of all power of action. 

14. Philip of Macedonia had for a time quietly submitted to the 
humiliating peace dictated to him by the Romans ; but towards the 
end of his life he resolved once more to try the fortune of war, and 
made active preparations. He was, however, prevented from taking 
decisive steps by a quarrel between his two sons, Demetrius and 
Perseus. The latter persuaded his fiither that Demetrius was con- 
spiring against him, and the king was induced to consent to Deme- 
trius being put to death. When the king discovered the deceit 
which had been practised upon him, he was seized with the deepest 
grief, and died shortly after, B. C. 179, leaving the kingdom to his 
only surviving son Perseus. The new monarch continued the pre- 
parations which had already been commenced, for he hated the 
Romans even more intensely than his father; but seven years 
elapsed before hostilities were actually begun. Perseus was a man 
of considerable talent, but trusted too much to himself, and could 
not be prevailed upon to part with his money when it was required, 
and these circumstances brought about the final overthrow of his 
kingdom. He had formed connections with the kings of Illyricum, 
Thrace, Syria, Bithynia, with the princes and towns of Epirus and 
Thessaly, and even with Carthage and the Celtic tribes on the 
Danube. His plans were admirable. The Greeks, except the Boeo- 
tian towns, had not the courage to join the alliance against Rome. 
The first three years of the war which broke out in B. C. 171, passed 
away without any great advantage being gained by either party, 
though fortune seemed to favour Perseus. This circumstance, and 
the fact that the war was protracted so long, at last excited among 
the Greeks a general feeling in favour of Macedonia; but his nig- 
gardliness deprived him of his most valuable allies, and obliged him 
to fight single-handed. In B. c. 168, L. iEmilius Paullus defeated 
Perseus with great loss in the decisive battle of Pydna. The van- 
cpished king fled with his treasures to the island of Samothrace, 
but was overtaken and surrendered. Paullus treated him mildly, 
but afterwards took him to Italy, where he adorned the triumph 
of his conqueroi', and spent the remainder of his life in honourable 



APPEAL TO ROME. 269 

captivity. Macedonia was now divided into four independent dis- 
tricts for the purpose of weakening the country; the people had to 
pay tribute, but their form of government was democratic. 

15. During this last Macedonian war, the Achaeans, though 
reluctantly, had fought on the side of the Romans. But the miser- 
able party spirit among them induced some of their number to de- 
nounce a great many as having openly or secretly f\ivoured Perseus. 
These denunciations led to a regular inquisition in tlio Achaean 
towns, and upwards of one thousand Achaeans, one of whom was 
Polybius, the historian, were sent to Rome to answer for tlieir con- 
duct. But instead of being tried they were kept as hostages in 
Italy, until in b. c. 151 the surviving three hundred were allowed 
to return to their counti'y. The ^Etolians, who were likewise sus- 
pected of having favoured Macedonia, were treated with still greater 
severity, for five hundred and fifty of the most distinguished were 
put to death, and many were carried away into captivity. 

16. The final decision of the fate of Greece was brought about by 
Athens. From mere want and poverty, the Athenians plundered 
Oropos, a town in their own territory. A complaint against them 
was brought before the Roman senate, which appointed a commis- 
sion of Sicyonians to inquire into the matter. As the Athenians 
refused to appear before the commissioners, they were sentenced to 
pay a fine of five hundred talents. Being unable to raise this 
beavy sum, they sent ambassadors to Rome petitioning the senate to 
cancel the sentence ; and the fine was actually reduced to one hun- 
dred talents. This happened in B. c. 155. Soon afterwards the 
Athenians renewed their outrage on Oropos, which now applied for 
redress to the Achaeans. A threatening decree passed against Athens 
by the Achaeans at length secured Oropos from further attacks of 
the Athenians. About the same time the possession of the town 
of Belmina became the cause of fresh hostilities between the 
Achaeans and Lacedaemonians. The Spartans would have sus- 
tained serious losses had it not been for the treachery of the Achaean 
strategus Democritus, who was succeeded by Diaeus, a most impla- 
cable enemy of the Romans. In B. c. 149, Andriscus, a Thracian 
of low origin, came forward as a pretender to the throne of Mace- 
donia, assuming the name of Philip, and declaring himself to be a 
son of the late king Perseus. The man succeeded in making the 
Macedonians believe his story, and, tired of the Roman yoke, they 
flocked around his stnndard. At first he was successful against the 
Romans; but in b. c 148 he was conquered by Caccilius Motellus, 
whose triumph he aftei-wards adorned at Rome. Macedonia was 
now constituted a Roman province. While this war against the 
Pseudo-Philip was going on, the Greeks continued their petty but 
bitter hostilities; and Metellus, who wished them well, desired 

23* 



270 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

them to keep peace, and promised that their affairs should be in- 
quired into by a Roman commissioner. But when the Eoniau 
ambassadors appeared before the assembled Achaeans at Co- 
rinth, their demand was received with scorn and insolence. A 
second embassy sent by Metellus fared no better, and the thought- 
less Achaeans declared war against the Romans. Metellus, in b. c. 
147, after the reduction of Macedonia and Thessaly, marched with 
his army into Boeotia. The Achaean strategus Critolaus had in- 
tended to occupy Thermopylae, but arrived too late, and was 
routed near Heracleia. He rallied again in Locris, but was defeated 
a second time, and perished in endeavouring to escape. 

17. The Achaeans were in despair; but the time had now come 
when they had to atone for their rash and inconsiderate mode of 
acting. While Metellus was advancing from the north, a Roman 
fleet landed a force in Peloponnesus, which laid waste the country. 
Diaeus assembled the last forces of the Achaean league in the neigh- 
bourhood of Corinth, and even armed a body of twelve thousand 
slaves. Metellus remained some time in Boeotia, where he pun- 
ished the Thebans for having taken part in the war, by destroying 
their city. He then advanced towards Megara, and once more tried 
what peaceful means would do. But the infatuated Diaeus rejected 
all proposals. During this interval the command of Metellus 
passed into the hands of L. Mummius, a rude soldier who had no 
sympathy with the Greeks. He at once, in b. c. 146, occupied the 
Isthmus with an army of twenty-three thousand foot and three 
thousand five hundred horse ; and in the battle of Leucopetra, in 
the neighbourhood of Corinth, the fate of Greece was decided for 
ever. When Diaeus, who had fought with the courage of despair, 
found that all was lost, he fled with a small band to his native city 
of Megalopolis, where he killed his wife, took poison, and then set 
fire to his house. Three days after the battle, Mummius entered 
the city of Corinth, which he ordered to be sacked and destroyed 
by fire ; all the male inhabitants were massacred, and the rest of the 
population sold as slaves. The Roman commissioners declared the 
Achaean and all other confederacies in Greece to be dissolved, and 
the territory of Corinth became domain land of the Roman republic. 
The ravages and devastation caused by the Roman soldiers in Pelo- 
ponnesus after the fall of Corinth were fearful, and many a town 
shared its fate. Greece, however, was not at once constituted a 
Roman province ; indeed this step does not seem to have been 
taken until the time of Sulla. Many of the severe measures which 
were adopted at first were afterwards relaxed, and a number of 
Greek cities enjoyed a kind of freedom even under the supremacy 
of Rome. The political life of Greece, however, was now extin- 
guished, and whatever advantages it continued to enjoy, were owing 



Alexander's successors. 271 

to the reverence with which civilised nations viewed it, and to its 
pre-eminence in arts and literature, which to some extent continued 
to flourish in the country in which they had first reached their 
highest perfection. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ASIA AND EGYPT UNDER THE SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER 
THE GREAT. 

1. After the battle of Ipsus, in b. c. 301, the whole of the vast 
empire of Alexander the Gi'eat was finally broken up into four 
great monarchies : Macedonia, of which we have already given the 
history; Syria under Seleucus and his successors; Egypt under the 
Ptolemies; and Thrace under Lysimachus; while in Asia Minor 
there were formed a few less important kingdoms or principalities, 
such as Pontus, Pergamus, Bithynia, and Cappadocia. The Thracian 
kingdom of Lysimachus, as we have seen, was of very brief dura- 
tion, while the kingdoms of Syria and Egypt continued their inde- 
pendent existence longest, until, with the rest of the ancient world, 
they were swallowed up by the all-absorbing power of Rome. 

'J. The founder of the Syrian dynasty was Seleucus, surnamed 
Nicator; its era is commonly dated from the year B. c. 312, when 
Seleucus recovered Babylon. After long and successful wars, he 
succeeded in uniting under his sceptre all the countries from the 
Indus to the Hellespont. The ancient country of Syria, however, 
was the seat of government ; he there built the magnificent capital 
of Antioch on the river Orontes, which was rivalled in splendour 
only by Seleucia on the Tigris. These and about forty other cities 
founded by Seleucus and his successors tended to spread and estab- 
lish Greek civilisation in the East. We have already seen (p. 259) 
that when attempting to make himself master of Macedonia, he 
was assassinated in B. C. 280, by Ptolemy Ceraunus, at Lysimachia. 

He was succeeded by his son Antiocbus Soter (B. c. 280-261), 
under whom we already meet with the usual horrors of an eastern 
court, which continued ever after to disgrace these Hellenistic rulers 
of Asia. The immense wealth accumulated in Syria from the 
wealthy provinces of the East, also created oriental luxury and 
effeminacy, which again fostered an abject and servile spirit among 
the people, manifesting itself in the basest flatteries towards their 
degenerate rulers, who were addicted to all the vices of eastern 
despots. Acts of bloody cruelty, the dominion of women and 
favourites, general moral corruption, together with disastrous wars 



272 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

against Egypt and the nations of Asia Minor, form the main topics 
of the history of the Syrian empire. Antiochus Sotor fell in a 
battle against the Celts of Asia Minor, and was succeeded by his 
son Antiochus Theos (the god), who reigned from B. c. 261 till 246, 
carried on a war against Egypt, and was murdered by his own wife. 
In his reign, about B. C. 250, Arsaces founded the Parthian empire, 
and Bactria also became an independent kingdom, whereby the 
Syrian monarchy was considerably reduced. Antiochus was suc- 
ceeded by Seleucus II., surnamed Callinicus, from B. c. 24G till 
226, who began his reign by murdering his step-mother and her 
infant son. This involved him in a war with Ptolemy Euergetes 
of Egypt, who not only made himself master of all Syria, but 
carried his arms beyond the Tigris. Ptolemy however was obliged 
to return to his own kingdom, and this enabled Seleucus to recover 
the greater part of what he had lost. His brother Antiochus Hierax 
attempted to establish an independent kingdom for himself in Asia 
Minor ; this led to a war between the brothers, in which Antiochus 
was defeated. Seleucus then endeavoured to subdue Parthia and 
Bactria, but was unsuccessful, and those kingdoms afterwards dated 
their independence from this time. Attains of Pergamus, in the 
meantime, likewise extended his principality at the expense of 
Syria. Seleucus died by an accidental fall from his horse, and was 
succeeded by Seleucus III. (Ceraunus), from B. c. 226 to 223, who 
was an imbecile both in body and mind, and was murdered by two 
of his own officers. 

3. The Syrian throne was now occupied by a brother of Seleucus 
III., Antiochus III., surnamed the Great, who reigned from B.C. 
228 till 187. He is the only one among the Seleucidae who was 
not quite unworthy of the throne he filled. As he was only fifteen 
years old at his accession, attempts were made in various parts of 
his empire to throw off the yoke and gain independence. His first 
undertakings were directed against the revolted satraps, who were 
subdued ; but an attempt to wrest Phoenicia and Palestine from 
Eg3'pt was unsuccessful, and he had to give up those countries in 
consequence of his defeat at Gaza, in B. C. 217. In Asia Minor 
he had to combat Achaeus, who had for a time maintained himself 
as an independent ruler, but was finally conquered by Antiochus, 
B. C. 214. His most important undertaking, however, was a seven 
years' war, from B. c. 212 to 205, in which he endeavoured to 
recover the revolted provinces of eastern Asia. He met indeed 
with great success, but found it impossible to subjugate the Par- 
thian and Bactrian kingdoms, and accordingly concluded a peace 
with them, in which their independence was finally recognised. On 
his return he renewed the war with Egypt, and this time he was 
more successful, for he conquered Coelo-Syria and Palestine. In 
B c. 196 he crossed over into Europe and made himself master of 



KINGDOMS IN ASIA MINOR. 2'?3 

the Thracian Chersonesus. The Romans indeed demanded of him 
to restore this conquest to Macedonia ; but Antiochus, being urged 
on by Hannibal, who in B. C. 195 arrived at his court, refused, and 
begin to think of attacking the Romans themselves. The executioa 
of this plan, however, was delayed until b. c. 192, when on the in- 
vitation of the iEtolians he again crossed over into Europe. How- 
ever great he may have been in his eastern campaigns, it is certain 
that during his invasion of Greece, from which he was driven by a 
defeat at Thermopylae in B. C. 191, and the whole of the remainder 
of his reign, we are not informed of any action that could raise 
him above the ordinary range of eastern despots. His fleet also 
suffered two defeats, and he himself was finally conquered by the 
two Scipios, in B. C. 190, in a battle near Magnesia, at the foot of 
mount Sipylus. This battle broke the power of the Syrian empire 
for ever, for the king had to give up all his dominions west of mount 
Taurus, to surrender his elephants and ships of war, and to pay the 
heavy sum of fifteen thousand talents. He was killed a few years 
later during his attempt to rob a wealthy temple of its treasures, 
and was succeeded by his son Seleucus IV., surnamed Philopator, 
who reigned from B. c. 187 to 175. 

4. The Syrian empire, thus reduced within narrow limits, con- 
tinued to exist for more than a century under a long succession of 
contemptible rulers, whose histoi'y is full of atrocious crimes, and 
who continued from time to time to be involved in wars with Egypt 
about the possession of Phoenicia and Palestine, the eternal bone 
of contention between Egypt and Syria. After the time of Anti- 
ochus the Great, the power and influence of Rome in the affairs of 
the kingdom increased from year to year, until in B. C. 65 Pompey 
made the kingdom a Roman province, and deposed its last king 
Antiochus XIII. , surnamed Asiatieus. The kingdom, composed as 
it was of most heterogeneous elements, without any internal bond 
of union, could be kept together by the sword alone, and as the 
warlike character of the Syrian rulers began to disappear soon after 
the foundation of the empire, its fate could not possibly have been 
other than that which history reveals to us ; the provinces which 
felt strong enough, asserted and maintained their independence as 
distinct states, and the remainder fell an easy prey to the Romans. 

5. Independently of the eastern kingdoms of Parthia and Bactria, 
which were formed out of provinces of the Syrian empire, some 
minor states spi'ang up in Asia Minor. The greater part of that 
vast peninsula had been united by Lysimachus with his kingdom 
of Thrace ; but during the wars in which he was involved during 
the later years of his life, a large portion of it fell into the hands 
of Seleucus, while in other parts independent principalities arose, 
such as — (1.) The state of the Galatians, formed by bands of Celtic 
tribes, which, after ravaging Macedonia and Greece, had migrated 



274 HISTORY OF GREECE. 

into Asia Minor, and established themselves there by their victory 
over Seleucus near Ancyra, in B. C. 280. (2.) The kingdom of 
Pergamus ; its first rulers, Attains and Eumencs, were wise and 
brave, and extended their dominion in all directions. The Pergame- 
nian court was on a small scale what the Alexandrian was on a large 
scale. The kings watched over the material interests of their sub- 
jects, and patronised the arts and literature by a liberal application 
of the public money. The library of Pergamus was, next to that 
of Alexandria, the most celebrated in the ancient world. The 
kingdom was allied with Rome at an early period, and its last two 
kings, Attains III. and IV., stooped to the lowest flatteries towards 
the Romans, who obliged the last king to bequeath his kingdom to 
them. (3.) The kingdom of Bithynia was formed about the same 
time as that of Pergamus, and continued its existence until B. c. 74, 
when Nicomedes III. bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans. 
(4.) Armenia became an independent kingdom during the later 
years of Antiochus the Great. Pontus and Cappadocia had been 
formed at an earlier period, out of hereditary satrapies of the Per- 
sian empire, and their dynasties were connected with the family of 
the kings of Persia. 

G. Egypt had been assigned as a province to Ptolemy, the son of 
Lagus, surnamed Soter, in B. c. 323. After the murder of Per- 
diccas, he enlarged his dominions by the conquest of Coelo-Syria 
and Phoenicia. In his defeat by Demetrius oft" Salamis in Cyprus, 
Ptolemy lost that important island ; but notwithstanding this 
reverse, he following the example of Antigonus and Demetrius, 
assumed the title of king of Egypt, B. c. 806, and this kingdom 
ever afterwards remained hereditary in the dynasty of which he 
was the founder. After the battle of Ipsus, in which he seems 
not to have taken a prominent part, he devoted himself almost 
entirely to promoting the internal prosperity of his kingdom, and 
the cultivation of the arts and sciences, objects which were pursued 
with equal zeal by his two successors. He made Egypt a great 
military and maritime state. His capital Alexandria became the 
great centre of commerce and Greek culture for the eastern and the 
western world. His most celebrated institution was the Museum, 
which was connected with the royal palace, and contained the well- 
known Alexandrian library, and residences for scholars, philosophers, 
and poets. But he and his two successors, who thus nobly exerted 
themselves, were, after all, foreigners to the country; and the men 
whom they employed to carry out their designs were likewise for- 
eigners — Greeks and Jews. The native Egyptians, though they 
must to some extent have become hellenized, continued to cherish 
their inflexible and stubborn hatred to foreigners and foreign institu- 
tions, and bore their yoke in sullen seclusion. The splendour of 
the court of the Ptolemies therefore was, and always remained, an 



THE PTOLEiMIES. 275 

jxotic plant, whicli could not take root in tte foreign soil; and 
3onsequently it cannot much surprise us to find that the later 
Ptolemies abandoned the high objects aimed at by the founders of 
;heir dynasty, and employed the treasures of their kingdom in sat- 
isfying their sensual pleasures and passions, until in the end the 
A.lexandrian court became as notorious for its immoralities and its 
borrors, as it was distinguished for its wealth and splendour. 

7. In B. c. 285, Ptolemy Sotcr abdicated in favour of his youngest 
son Ptolemy Philadelphus, who reigned from b. c. 285 to 247, to 
the exclusion of his two elder brothers, Ptolemy Ceraunus and 
Meleager. His father died in B. c. 288. The long reign of Phila- 
delphus was marked by few events of importance, except the usual 
bostilities with Syria, and the conclusion of a treaty with the 
Romans. His chief care was directed to the internal administra- 
tion of his kingdom, and to the patronage of literature and the 
arts. The institutions founded by his father attained, under his 
fostering care, the highest prosperity. Natural history, in particu- 
lar, was studied at Alexandria with great ardour, and many impor- 
tant works on science were produced. In his reign the Egyptian 
priest Manetho wrote a history of Egypt in Greek ; and it is said 
to have been by the king's command that the sacred writings of the 
Jews were translated into Greek (the Septuagint). Under him the 
power of Egypt rose to its greatest height, for his dominions com- 
prised, besides Egypt itself and portions of Ethiopia, Arabia, and 
Libya, the important provinces of Phoenicia, Coelo-Syria, Cyprus, 
Lycia, Caria, and the Cyclades; and in most of these countries he 
established numerous colonies. Cyrene also became united with 
his kingdom through a marriage. In his private character, how- 
ever, Philadelphus does not appear in a favourable light, and his 
court already exhibited many scenes which show that he and those 
who surrounded him were becoming demoralised and degraded 
orientals. 

8. He was succeeded by his eldest son Ptolemy Euergctes, from 
B. c. 247 to 222. This king was successful in his wars against 
Syria ; and the Asiatic provinces of that empire, as far as Bactria 
and India, submitted to him. From this great expedition he was 
recalled by news of an insurrection in Egypt. At the same time, 
his fleet was actively and successfully engaged in the eastern parts 
of the Mediterranean. His eastern conquests, however, appear to 
have again fallen into the hands of Seleucus of Syria, and he retained 
only the maritime parts. Like his father, he maintained friendly 
relations with Rome, and largely added to the treasures of the 
Alexandrian library. He was succeeded by his son Ptolemy Phi- 
lopator, from B. c. 222 to 205, whose reign was the commencement 
of the decline of the Egyptian empire. Its very beginning is 
stained with crimes of the darkest hue. The monarch gave him- 



276 HISTORY or G ll e e c e . 

self up to indolence and luxury, leaving the whole administration ' 
in the hands of his ministers. The kingdom rapidly decayed, and i 
Antiochus the Great of Syria, not slow to profit by this state of 
things, for a time made himself master of Phoenicia and Coelo- 
Syria ; but in the end he was defeated and obliged to conclude peace ; 
with Egypt. After this Ptolemy, without any restraint, indulged ' 
in every vice and debauchery, and his mistresses and favourites 
were allowed to manage the affairs of the state in whatever w;iy 
they pleased. But he still continued to some extent to patroni.-o 
letters, and supported the Romans with supplies of grain durino: 
their second war with Carthage. Philopator was succeeded by his 
son Ptolemy Epiphanes, from B. C. 205 to 181, who was only five 
years old at the time of his father's death. The king of Syria | 
and Macedonia, availing themselves of this opportunity, wrested 
from Egypt Coelo-Syria, the Cyclades, and its possessions in Thrace. 
The ministers of the young king solicited the intervention of Rome ' 
in behalf of their master. The Romans demanded of the con- 
querors to restore to Egypt its possessions, but the demand was ' 
evaded by private arrangements among the different courts, and in 
B. c. 193 king Ptolemy married Cleopatra, a Syrian princess. So I 
long as he was under the guidance of wise men things went on 
pretty fairly, but he soon became tired of such advisers, and having 
removed them by poison, followed the example set him by his 
father, until he himself too was cut off by poison. 

9. At his death he was succeeded by his infant son Ptolemy Phi- 
Inmetor, who reigned till B. c. 146. His mother Cleopatra under- 
took the regency, and maintained order and tranquillity in the 
kingdom; but after her death in B. C. 173, the administration was 
left to unworthy and unprincipled favourites. Henceforth the his- 
tory of Egypt, whose kings were under the almost absolute control 
of Rome, consists of a succession of disgusting details, and it may 
safely be asserted that a more contemptible set of rulers never dis- 
graced a throne than the later Ptolemies. Under their wretched 
rule the state continued its miserable existence until the year b. c. 
30, when the dissolute Cleopatra made away with herself, and Egypt 
became a Roman province. 

10. After the overthrow of the independence of Greece in the 
reign of Philip, the father of Alexander, a great change gradually 
took place in the minds of the Greeks. Their stern notions about 
the sovereignty of the people, and the position of the citizens, had 
to undergo considerable modifications. Until then a citizen ])ad 
been not so much a free individual agent, as a member of a po- 
litical community, in which the person was absorbed, while every 
stranger not belonging to the same community was regarded as a 
being beyond the protection of the law, or even as an enemy. But 
under the Macedonian and Roman supremacy, the individuality of 



THE LATER GREEKS. 277 

every man became more important in proportion as his character of 
citizen lost in value and dignity. With this feeling the undivided 
interest in the welfare of the state and the all-powerful patriotism 
of former days likewise disappeared. The narrow democratic com- 
munities of single cities were broken up, and enlarged into con- 
federacies; these and the great monarchies which were formed out 
of the empire of Alexander, and with which many of the scattered 
Greeks were incorporated, gi'adually accustomed them to live at 
peace with their neighbours, to regard themselves as members of 
one large state, and to sacrifice the right of governing themselves 
in petty and turbulent states to the idea of larger political bodies. 
Even the national feeling of the Greeks, and the strong contrasts 
between hellenism and barbarism, were softened down by the amal- 
gamation of the Greeks and Orientals in the monarchies of the 
successors of Alexander, whence the exclusive Greeks of former 
times now became to some extent cosmopolites. 

11. Their notions about religion had experienced a similar change. 
The undoubting and child-like faith of the early times, when the 
gods were conceived as beings that took an interest in the joys and 
sorrows of mortals, had long since vanished among the higher and 
educated classes, and was despised as superstitious. The philoso- 
phical inquiries, from the time of Socrates downwards, had shaken 
polytheism to its foundations. Governments attempted to interfere, 
declaring themselves the defenders and upholders of the ancient 
national religion, and some philosophers were even punished or 
banished on the ground of atheism. But it was of no avail ; an- 
cient polytheism could not maintain its ground, and was gradually 
making way for a purer and holier religion, which was intended to 
extend its blessings over all mankind, and teach them that they are 
all governed by one God, whose loving-kindness towards all knows 
no bounds. 

24 



BOOK III. 

HISTORY OF ROME, CARTHAGE, AND THE 
NATIONS OF WESTERN EUROPE. 



CHAPTER I 



ITALY AND ITS INHABITANTS. 

1. Italy is the middle one of the three peninsulas in which 
southern Europe terminates; it extends from the foot of the Alps 
to the straits of Sicily, which island itself seems at one time to have 
formed its southernmost part. The whole peninsula is traversed by 
the chain of the Appenines, which, commencing; at the western ex- 
tremity of the Alps, run in a south-eastern direction, in such a 
manner as to constitute as it were the spine of Italy. These moun- 
tains, however, do not form a mere ridge rising between the two 
sides of the peninsula, but form broad plateaus connected bypasses. 
The broad low lands in the north between the Alps and the Appe- 
nines, however, do not, either geographically or historically, belong 
to ancient Italy. The eastern part of the peninsula which sinks 
down towards the basin of the Adriatic has few and unimportant 
rivers, and few harbours; the western part, on the other hand, has 
many navigable rivers, and is a hilly country with many harbours 
and bays, which sinks down towards the west and south, to the 
point where the fertile plain of Campania begins. The Italian . 
peninsula has, on the whole, the same temperate and genial climate 
as Greece; it is healthy in the hills, and, generally speaking, also 
in the plains ; but the coasts of Italy are not so richly articulated 
as those of Greece; and the sea around it is not studded with those ; 
numerous islands, which made the Greeks a maritime nation. 
Italy, on the other hand, has superior advantages in its rich broad 
valleys traversed by rivers, and in the fertile slopes of its hills, 
which are fitted both for agriculture and for pasture. The vast 
plain in the north between the Appenines and the Alps, which was 
not regarded as a part of Italy, until a very late period, is watered 
by the river Po and its numerous tributaries. 

2. It has already been observed that, when at some remote 

(278) 



NATIONS OF ITALY. 279 

period of whicli history furnishes no information, the nations of the 
ludo-Germanic family migrated into Europe, one branch of it de- 
scended from the north upon Italy, and continued its migration 
southward so long as nature set no insuperable barrier to their pro- 
gress. The tribes therefore which occupied Italy were akin to 
those which settled in Greece. This assumption is fully borne out 
by the languages of the Greeks and Italians, the roots and inflec- 
tions of which are so much alike, that their original identity cannot 
be mistaken. This original identity of the nations of Italy and 
Greece is perhaps most appropriately expressed by the name of Pe- 
lasgians, which is given to most of the primitive inhabitants of 
both Greece and Italy, and may be viewed as the appellation com- 
mon to all the tribes of the Indo-Germanic stock which ultimately 
fixed their abodes on the coasts of Asia Minor, the islands of the 
Mgeiin, Greece, and Italy. The time when the immigration into 
the Italian peninsula took place belongs to so remote a period, that 
not even a tradition about it has been preserved; and the Italian 
nations, like most other ancient peoples, regarded themselves as 
autochtons or earthboru. 

3. But, although all the original inhabitants of Italy belonged 
to the same stock, yet in the course of time the languages, the 
chief criterion of nationality, of the different tribes, underwent 
changes and modifications so great that to the untrained mind they 
assuaie the appearance of different languages, while in reality they 
are only different dialects of the same primitive tongue. So far as 
our knowledge at present goes, we are enabled to distinguish three 
original Italian languages, the lapygian, the Etruscan, and the Ita- 
lian proper, as we may call it, the last of which embraces the dia- 
lects of the Latins, Umbrians, Marsians, Volscians, and Sabellians. 
The languages spoken by all these tribes are but dialects of one and 
the same branch of the Indo-Gerraanic stock. That which presents 
the greatest peculiarities is the lapygian in the extreme south-east 
of Italy ; it exists in numerous inscriptions which have not yet been 
deciphered, though it is evident that the language is Indo-Germanic, 
which also accounts for the facility with which the people in that 
part of Italy afterwards became hellenized. The lapygians were no 
doubt the most ancient inhabitants of Italy, and had been pushed 
into the south-eastern corner by other immigrants pressing upou 
them from the north. The central part of the peninsula was 
inhabited by those nations whose history determines that of the 
whole, and which may therefore be termed the Italians. They are 
divided into two main branches, the Latins and LTmbrians, to the 
latter of which belong the Marsians and all the Samnite or Sabel- 
lian tribes. The languages spoken by these tribes formed one dis- 
tinct group of the Indo-Germanic family, and it was at a compara- 
tively late period that it branched out into the different dialects, 



280 HISTORY OF ROME. 

which we now know partly from inscriptions and partly from the 
literature of the Romans. 

4. The Etruscans, Tuscans, or Tyrrhenians form the strongest 
possible contrast to the Latin and Sabellian tribes as well as to the 
Greeks, and all we know of their manners and customs leads us to i; 
infer that they were widely different from all the branches of that 
family which we have called Pelasgian. This is more particularly: 
striking id their religion, which was of a gloomy and fantastic 
character, delighting in mysteries, and wild and savage notions and! 
rites. The same striking peculiarities are exhibited in the Ian-- 
guage of the Etruscans, the numerous remnants of which in inscrip- ■ 
tions stand so isolated, that as yet no one has been able to decipher 
them, or to assign to the language, with any degree of certainty, the 
place which it occupies in the classification of languages. It is ^ 
equally impossible to determine from what quarter the Etruscans 
migrated into Italy, though it is highly probable that they came 
from the valleys of the Raetian Alps, the native name of the Etrus- 
cans being Rasena, which may possibly be connected with Raetia. 
That they immigrated from the north, not by sea, is rendered 
further probable by the fact that all their great towns were built in 
the interior of the country. There was, however, a tradition in 
antiquity, according to which the Etruscans were Lydians, who 
had migrated into Italy from Lydia. But even ancient critics saw 
the absurdity of this tradition, inasmuch as the religion, the laws, 
the manners, and the language of the Etruscans did not bear the 
slightest resemblance to those of the Lydians. It is possible that 
some band of Asiatic adventurers landing in Italy may have given 
rise to the story, but it is more probable that the whole is based 
upon some mistake or some etymological speculation, for there 
existed in Lydia a town called Tyrrha and a tribe called Torrebi. 
But before the Etruscans immigrated into the country which to 
this day bears their name, it was probably inhabited by a race more 
closely akin to the Latins and Sabellians, that is, a people belong- 
ing to what we have called the Pelasgian race. 

5. It is historically certain, that previously to the great Celtic 
immigration into Italy, the Etruscans occupied the country north 
of the river Po, and extended eastward as far as the Adige. The 
country south of the Po was occupied by Umbrians. When the 
Celtic hordes poured down from the Alps upon the fertile plains 
of Lombardy, the Etruscans being pushed forward pressed upon 
the Umbrians, and finally settled in Etruria on the south-west of 
the Appenines. There they completely subdued the previously 
established race or races, and maintained their own nationality, in 
spite of the influence of their southern neighbours, down to the 
time of the Roman emperors. In the south the river Tiber sepa- 
rated the Etruscans from Rome, though they are said at different 



THE NATIONS OF ITALY. 281 

times to have advanced beyond that river, and even into Campania. 
Bodies of Etruscans also are said to liave received settlements at 
Rome, and it can hardly be doubted that the dynasty of the Tar- 
quins, to which the last kings of Rome belonged, was of Etruscan 
origin ; though it is singular, that during the regal period Etruria 
exercised no important influence upon either the language or the 
customs of the Romans. The Etruscans from very early times 
applied themselves to navigation, commerce, and industry, in conse- 
quence of which their cities rose to a high degree of prosperity and 
independence; and this was probably the reason why they were less 
warlike than the Romans and Sabellians, and began at an ea'-ly 
period to avail themselves of the services of mercenaries. The 
earliest constitution of the Etruscan cities seems to have been, on 
the whole, like that of Rome. Twelve cities, each governed by a 
lucumo or king, formed a confederacy, which, however, appears to 
have been very loose ; and in each city the nobles and the com- 
monalty were as fiercely opposed to each other as at Rome. 

6. The last immigration into Italy from the north is that of the 
Celts or Gauls, who, expelling the Etruscans and Umbrians, took 
possession of the extensive country between the Alps and Appe- 
nines, and advanced southward as far as Picenum. The country 
thus occupied by them bore the name of Gallia Cisalpina, to distin- 
guish it from Gaul beyond the Alps. The time when the Gauls 
made their first appearance in Italy is not quite certain, though it 
was probably about the period of the Tarquins. They did not, 
however, rest satisfied with the country on the north and east of 
the Appenincs, but made frequent attempts upon Etruria and 
Rome itself, which was once conquered and destroyed by them ; 
but they never succeeded in permanently establishing themselves 
on the south or west of the Appenines. 

7. The coasts of southern Italy were occupied at an early period 
by Greek colonies, whence that country is generally designated by 
the name of Magna Graecia or Great Greece. In the Homeric 
poems Italy seems to be unknown to the Greeks; but at the time 
when the Theogony of Ilesiod was composed, they appear to have 
been well acquainted with the coasts of Italy, and it was probably 
not long after that the Greeks commenced to establish their colo- 
nies there. The most ancient of these settlements was Cumae in 
Campania, founded by Asiatic merchants as a commercial factory. 
It is said to have been three hundred years older than Sybaris, 
which was founded in B. c. 723. But the earliest Greek colony in 
Italy of which the date is known, is Rhegium, which was founded 
in B. c. 746 ; this is the most ancient fact in the history of Italy 
that is chronologically certain. But the foundation of these colo- 
nies was followed in rapid succession by that of many others ; and 
during the same period the coasts of Sicily also were occupied by 

24 * 



282 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Greek settlements. The influence exercised by these colonies -upon 
the civilisation of Italy was immense, and the whole of the south 
of Italy in particular became completely hellenized, in consequence 
of the facility with which the Greek language and Greek customs 
were adopted by the natives. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE BEGINNINGS OF ROMAN HISTORY, DOWN TO THE 
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC. 

1. The Latin branch of the Italian nations probably occupied at 
one time the western coast of Italy, from the Tiber to the straits 
of Sicily, and even a portion of Sicily itself. They appear in 
history under different names, such as Siculi, Latini, Ausones, and 
Opici. In the southern parts, as well as in Sicily, their nationality 
was overpowered by the Greek colonies, in consequence of which 
they were completely hellenized ; in Campania they were early con- 
quered and subdued by a branch of the Sabellian nation, which 
established itself in the country, and in conjunction with the Greek 
colonists modified the national character of the original inhabitants. 
Hence the Siculi, Ausones, and other southern branches of the 
Latin race, cannot be expected to act any prominent part in the 
history of Italy. But in Latium the case was different ; there no 
Greek colonies were founded, and the Latins, after hard struggles 
with their northern and eastern neighbours, the Etruscans, and 
Sabines (the Sabellians), succeeded in maintaining their independ- 
ence. Thirty of the towns of Latium formed a political confede- 
racy, of which Alba Longa was the head. The confederates, called 
populi Albcnses, annually celebrated a common festival in honour 
of Jupiter Latiaris. Another similar confederacy was that which 
held its meetings in the grove of Diana at Aricia. In later times 
the Latins, who had formed these ancient confederacies, called 
themselves Prisci Latini, the ancient Latins, to distinguish them- 
selves from the Latin colonies established out of Latium, in different 
parts of Italy. Rome itself was in all probability originally no 
more than one of the thirty Latin towns belonging to Alba, for 
which reason it is sometimes called a colony of Alba. 

2. The most ancient part of the city of Rome was situated on the 
Palatine, one of the many hills which rise on both banks of the 
Tiber, at a distance of about twenty English miles from its mouth. 
The time of its foundation is unknown, though it was in antiquity, 



1 



ROMULUS. 283 

and still is generally assumed, for the sake of convenience, that it 
was built in the year B. c. 753. But there can be no doubt that 
Rome as a Latin town had existed long before that time. Accord- 
ing to a story which arose in Italy at an early period, and probably 
owed its origin to the mere fact that the Romans ethnologically 
belonged to the same race as the Trojans, the founders of Rome 
were descended from the Trojan ^neas, who, after the destruction 
of Troy, had landed with a few followers on the coast of Latium. 
Numitor, king of Alba Longa, and a descendant of ^neas, says 
the story, was deprived by his brother Amulius of his throne, and 
his daughter Rhea Silvia was made a priestess of Vesta, to remove 
all apprehensions for the future, since, as a vestal, she was not 
allowed to marry. But the uncle's design was thwarted, for Rhea 
Silvia became by Mars the mother of twins, Romulus and Remus, 
Amulius endeavoured to get rid of the infants by exposing them in 
a basket on the banks of the Tiber, which happened to have over- 
flowed the country; but the basket was thrown on dry land, and 
the babes were suckled by a she-wolf, and afterwards brought up 
by a shepherd. When they had grown up to manhood, they 
became through an accident acquainted with their history, and the 
injustice done to their grandfather. With the aid of their comrades 
they restored Numitor to the throne of Alba Longa, and built the 
town of Rome on the Palatine hill, on the left bank of the river 
Tiber. In a dispute about the name to be given to the new town 
Romulus slew his brother Remus. This legend is evidently a pure 
fiction, and Romulus himself a mere invention to account for the 
name of Rome, like those we meet with, in innumerable instances, 
both in Greece and in Italy. 

3. The history of Rome, from its foundation to the establishment 
of the republic, and in many respects down to its destruction by the 
Gauls, is so much mixed up with poetical and other legends, that it 
is impossible to say what is historical and what not. The few facts 
which can be gleaned are derived partly from ancient monuments, 
and partly from the institutions of later times, which occasionally 
allow us to catch a glimpse of what must have been the original 
state of things. We are told that Rome was governed by seven 
kings before the abolition of royalty; each king has a fixed number 
of years assigned to his reign, and certain political, social, and re- 
ligious institutions are ascribed to him ; but historical criticism has 
shown that not the slightest reliance can be placed upon the.se 
details, for almost everything is arranged symmetrically, whence it 
is evident that the early history was in later times made up artificially 
from slender and vague traditions. For, during the Gallic conflagra- 
tion, about B. c. 390, nearly all the historical monuments perished. 
This being the case, it would hardly be necessary here to repeat the 
stories of the several kings, some of whom are purely mythical, 



284 HISTORY OF ROME. 

were it not that these stories are so often alluded to by writers of all 
ages aud countries. For this reason we shall give a brief outline of 
them all, accompanying each with a few critical observations to show 
how much of truth may be contained in it. 

4. When the little town on the Palatine hill was built, and sur- 
rounded by a ditch and a rampart, Romulus, as the story runs, 
opened an asylum for people of every description, in order to 
increase the number of inhabitants. Everybody found a welcome 
reception ; but as few or no women were to be found in the new 
town, the population would have died out after a short time. Rom- 
ulus made applications to the neighbouring communities to obtain 
wives for his subjects, but his proposals being treated with contempt, 
he resolved to obtain by stratagem what was refused to his honourable 
request. He invited the neighbouring Subines and Latins to come 
to Rome to witness certain festive games ; and when they were as- 
sembled his Romans fell upon the daughters of their guests, and 
carried them off by force. In consequence of this, Rome became in- 
volved in a war with the Sabines, which, however, was brought to an 
amicable conclusion by the intervention of the women, who threw 
themselves between the two armies, and declared themselves willing 
to share the fate of their new husbands. Peace was then concluded, 
in which it was agreed that the Romans and Sabines should be 
united in one state, on condition, however, that each nation should 
have a king of its own. The Sabines, under their king Titus Tatius, 
then built a new town for themselves on the Capitoline and Qui- 
rinal hills, T. Titius dwelling on the Capitoline, and Romulus on 
the Palatine. This happy union, however, did not last long, for 
after some years T. Titius was slain at Laurentum, and Romulus 
thenceforth ruled as sole king of Rome, over both the Romans and 
Sabines. 

5. After this Romulus is said to have waged successful wars 
against Fidenae and the Etruscan town of Veii, the latter of which 
he compelled to give up a portion of its territory. His reign ex- 
tended over a period of thirty-eight years, from B. c. 753 to 716, 
and his death was as marvellous as his birth, for while he was re- 
viewing his people, his father Mars descended in a tempest, and 
bore him up to heaven. It was afterwards believed that he himself 
had become a god like his divine father, and that, under the name 
of Quirinus, he watched over the interests of the state he had 
founded. The Romans of later times naturally entertained the 
opinion that Romulus, the founder of their state, was the author 
of the ground-work of their political constitution. Hence he is said 
to have divided the whole people into three tribes, the Ranines, 
Titles, and Luceres, each tribe into ten curiae, and each curia into 
a number of gentes. The original senate of one hundred members 

s said to have been increased to two hundred at the time when 



REIGN OF NUxMA POMPILIUS. 285 

the Sabines united witli the Romans in one state. The Ramnes in 
this division are the original Romans (Ramnes being in fact identical 
with Romani), the Tities are the Sabines, so called from their king 
T. Tatius. But who the Luceres were is uncertain, nor do we 
know the exact time when they became incorporated with the other 
two tribes. Besides the people contained in the three tribes and 
their sub-divisions, who constituted the sovereign people, we hear in 
the very earliest times of clients and slaves. The clients may be 
regarded as the retainers of certain families or gentes, and the 
person to whom a client was attached was called his patron (from 
pater, a father) — a name which seems to indicate that the relation 
subsisting between a patron and his client resembled thut between a 
father and his son. The plebeians, or the commons of Rome, did not 
exist in the earliest times, unless we regard the clients as plebeians. 

6. After the ascension of Romulus, a whole year is said to have' 
passed away without a successor being elected, until at length the 
Romans chose, from among the Sabines, the wise and pious Numa 
Pompilius, who did for religion and the worship of the gods what 
Romulus had done for the political organisation of the state. His 
long reign of forty-three years, from B. c. 715 to 672, is described 
as a period of uninterrupted peace, during which the king was 
chiefly occupied in establishing the priesthood and the ceremonies 
connected with the worship of the gods. He first regulated the 
calendar by the institution of a lunar year of twelve months or 
three hundred and fifty-five days, of which some were set apart for 
religious purposes ; and then instituted the various orders or colleges 
of priests, as the flamines, or priests of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus; 
the vestal virgins, the salii of Mars, the pontiffs who possessed the 
most extensive powers in all matters connected with religion ; and 
lastly, the college of augurs, whose business it was to ascertain the 
will of the gods by observing the flight of birds in the air and their 
manner of feeding. Numerous temples and altars also were built 
to the gods, and in all these matters Numa is said to have been 
guided by the counsels of a divine being, the nymph Egeria, who 
favoured him with her presence in a sacred grove. Amid these 
pious operations his reign gilded away in profound peace, and the 
temple of Janus, which was built by Numa Pompilius. remained 
closed throughout the king's reign — a sign that Rome was not at 
war with any nation. There can be no doubt that many of the 
institutions ascribed in the legend to Numa, had existed from time 
immemorial among the Latins and Sabines ; his history seems, in 
fact, to be scarcely less mythical than that of his predecessor. The 
religion of the Romans, which is almost described as a device of 
Numa, was in all essential points the same as that of the Greeks — 
a worship of nature and her various powers personified, but with 
this difference, that the Greeks, being a more poetical nation, clothed 



286 HISTORY OF ROME. 

tlieir conceptions and ideas in the form of numberless stories, of 
which the Roman religion, in its ancient and pure state, is perfectly 
free. 

7. After tlie death of Numa Pompilius, the Romans chose Tullus 
Hostilius for their king from among the Eamnes. His reign, ex- 
tending from B. C. 672 to 640, was totally opposed in chai-acter to 
that of his predecessor, for he is said to have neglected the worship 
of the gods, and to have carried on serious wars with his neighbours. 
The first war was that with Alba Longa, the alleged mother-city of 
Rome. The two little states had indulged in mutual acts of 
violence, and as reparation was refused, arms were resorted to. The 
contest was for a long time doubtful, till at length the commanders 
on both sides agreed that the dispute should be decided by a combat 
of three brothers who were serving in the Roman army, and bore 
-the name of Horatii, with three brothers, called Curiatii, in the 
army of the Albans ; and it was further agreed, that the victorious 
party should rule over the vanquished. The three champions now 
came forward on both sides ; and two of the Horatii were soon 
slain, but the remaining one was unhurt, while the three Curiatii 
were wounded. Horatius then took to flight, and the three Albans 
pursued him at intervals from one another. Horatius, who had 
foreseen this, turned round and slew them one after another. When 
the Romans were returning home in triumph, Horatius met his 
sister, who burst into tears when she saw her brother carrying 
among the spoils a garment she had woven with her own hands for 
one of the Curiatii, to whom she had been betrothed. Horatius, 
enraged at her conduct on such an occasion, ran her through with 
his sword. For this outrage he was tried and sentenced to death ; 
but he obtained his acquittal by an appeal to the people, who were 
moved by the thought of what he had gained for his country, and 
by the entreaties of his father. This beautiful story, so much 
cherished by the Romans of all ages, is unquestionably no more 
than a popular tradition or poetical fiction, though the fact of Alba 
being overpowered by the Romans need not on this account be 
doubted. 

8. Alba was bound by the terms agreed upon to recognise the 
supremacy of Rome, but the yoke was borne with reluctance. 
During a war between Rome and Fidenae, in which the Albans 
ought to have assisted the Romans, they formed a treacherous 
design. When this was discovered by Tullus Hostilius, he, after 
the enemy was defeated, ordered the commander of the Albans to 
be put to death, and their city to be razed to the ground. His 
orders were immediately carried into execution. The people of 
Alba are said to have been transferred to Rome, where the Caelian 
hill was assigned to them as their habitation ; some of the noble 
Alban families obtained the full Roman franchise, while the great 



ANGUS MARCIUS. 287 

body of tlie people entered into a relation which was neither that 
of full citizens nor of clients, but was designated by the name of 
phbs as opposed to the pat res, potn'cii or populus Romanus, by 
which names the old citizens were henceforth designated. The 
strength of Rome was thus doubled by the fall of Alba, which may 
be regarded as an historical fact, though it is not likely to have 
taken place under the circumstances related in the legend. After 
the destruction of Alba, the Roman king waged war against the 
Sabincs and Latins, over the latter of whom he claimed the same 
authority as that formerly exercised by Alba. Towards the end of 
his reign, the displeasure of the gods at the neglect of their worship 
manifested itself in various ways, and in the end Tullus Hostilius 
and his whole house were destroyed by Jupiter with a flash of 
lightning. 

9. After his death the Romans elected Ancus Marcius, a Sabine, 
from among the Titles, to the throne (b. c. 640-616). He was a 
relation of Nunia, in whose footsteps he followed, though he did 
not give himself up wholly to religious duties, for when occasion 
required, he displayed as much valour in the field as piety at home. 
The Latins, who had concluded a peace with his predecessor, now 
rose in arms to assert their independence of Rome ; but in vain : 
many of their towns were taken, and the whole body of them was 
defeated in a pitched battle. Many thousands of them were trans- 
ferred to Rome, where, being settled between the Aventine and 
Palatine, they entered into the same relation as that of the con- 
quered people of Alba, that is, they became plebeians, whose num- 
ber now probably far surpassed that of the old citizens or patricians. 
We must not, however, suppose that all or even the greater number 
of the Latins were transferred to Rome, for the majority must no 
doubt be conceived to have remained in their towns and on their 
farms or estates. Ancus Marcius extended the dominion of Rome 
as far as the mouth of the Tiber, where he built Ostia, the port- 
town of Rome, and established salt-works. 

10. The reigns of Tullus Hostilius and Ancus INLarcius are most 
remarkable, because they form the period during which Rome 
obtained its commonalty, henceforth the most interesting part of 
its population, on account of its persevering struggles to remove 
the wrongs under which it suffered, and to obtain as much power 
as was necessary to protect itself against the oppressive tyranny of 
the patricians. These plebeians were personally free, but, being 
excluded from the political organisation of the patricians, they had 
no political rights, but only duties. The law, moreover, declared 
marriages between patricians and plebeians illegal. The plebeians 
formed, in fact, an irregular mass without any organisation among 
themselves, except that they were divided, like the other Italians, 
into gentes or clans. It is further remarkable that the legends 



280 HISTORY OF ROME. 

represent the first four kings of Rome as alternately belonging to 
the Ramnes and Tities, that is, to the Latin and Sabine tribes — 
no king of the Luceres being mentioned. As to the remaining 
kings, Tarquinius Prisons and Tarquinius Superbus, the legends 
point to Etruria as the country from which they came, though they 
are not described as Etruscans, but as descendants of a Corinthian 
Demaratus, who is said to have settled at Tarquinii in Etruria. 
Servius Tullius, the sixth king, who in some traditions is described 
as an Etruscan, is said by others to have been a Latin, whi<;h latter 
supposition is more in accordance with the political reforms that 
are ascribed to him. It further deserves to be noticed that the 
Roman state, which, in the reign of Ancus Marcius, is described 
as comprising only a small portion of Latium, suddenly appears 
under his successor as a powerful monarchy, under which archi- 
tectural works were constructed, challengiDg in grandeur and 
durability a comparison with the immortal structures of the Egyp- 
tians. 

11. The fifth king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus, who is said to 
have reigned from B. c. 616 till 578, is represented in all the 
traditions as a foreigner, who by his wealth and wisdom gained the 
favour of Ancus Marcius, and after his death was elected king of 
Rome. After a successful war against the Sabines he began the 
building of the great Capitoline temple, which was dedicated to 
Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, and was not completed until the reign 
of the seventh king. After peace had been concluded with the 
Sabines, he caiTied on a war with the Latins, whose towns he con- 
quered one after another, so that the whole country became subject 
to him. From some traditions it would seem that in the reign of 
Tarquinius Priscus the sovereignty of Rome was acknowledged by 
all the Latins, the Sabines, and the Etruscans. But what makes 
his reign still more illustrious than these conquests, is the great 
and useful architectural works which he is said to have executed, 
such as the great sewer (cloaca maxima^, by means of which the 
Forum and the other low grounds were drained and secured against 
inundations of the river; and the great race-course for horses and 
chariots (citTus maximus). The religion of the Romans, which 
had before been of a simple and rustic character, is said through 
his influence to have become more pompous and showy; the gods 
were then first represented in human forms. He is also said to 
have increased the number of senators from two hundred to three 
hundred, which seems to suggest that the third tribe, the Luceres, 
were then incorporated with the Roman state. Tarquinius Priscus 
is reported to have intended to give to the plebeians some kind of 
organisation, and to surround his extended city with a stone wall; 
but he was prevented from executing these plans, which were 
reserved for his successor. Tarquinius was murdered by the sons 



SERVIUS TULLIUS — LUCIUS TAIIQUINIUS. 289 

of liis predecessor, who looked upon him as a usurper that had 
interfered with their legal claims to the succession. 

12. Tarquinius Priscus was suceeeeded by Servius Tullius, who 
reigned from B. C. 578 to 534. He is described as a foreigner who 
was married to a daughter of Tarquinius, but his origin is uncer- 
tain. His reign is celebrated in history for three great measures; 
first, for the organisation he gave to the plebeians ; secondly, for his 
political reforms; and thirdly, for the fact that he surrounded the 
city with a stone wall in those parts where it needed such protec- 
tion. He divided the whole body of the plebeians into thirty local 
divisions, four of which belonged to the city, and the remaining 
twenty-six to the country around it. Each of these divisions, called 
tribi(s, was headed by its own magistrate, and all the thirty tribes 
might meet for discussion in assemblies called comitla tribufa, as 
distinguished from the meetings of the patricians, the comitia 
curiata. His political reform consisted in his making property 
instead of birth the standard by which the rights and duties of the 
citizens were to be determined. For this purpose he instituted a 
census, and divided all the people into five property classes, and 
these again into one hundred and ninety-three centuries or votes, 
which, however, were distributed in such a manner that all political 
power was virtually vested in the wealthy classes, so that for the 
moment the change was probably not a very violent one. A sixth 
class, consisting of the proletarians, or ca2^ite censi, had no political 
rights, but were at the same time exempt from military service. 
The assembly of the one hundred and ninety-three centuries (comitia 
centuriata) embracing both patricians and plebeians, henceforth 
truly represented the whole body of the lloman people, and to it 
were transferi-ed all the more important functions which until then 
had belonged to the assemblies of the patricians in their curiae. 
This reform, which was intended to place the plebeians on a footing 
of equality with the patricians, and to establish the king's power on 
the broad basis of the whole people, drew upon Servius Tullius the 
hatred of the patricians, who, headed by Tarquinius, his own son- 
in-law, created a revolution, in which the aged Servius was mur- 
dered, and Tarquinius ascended the throne. 

13. Tradition represents this revolution in the following tragic 
story. In order to propitiate the sons of his predecessor, Servius 
had given his two daughters in marriage to the two sons of Tarqui 
nius, Lucius and Aruns. The former, a man capable of criminal 
actions, though not naturally disposed to crime, was married to a 
mild and virtuous woman, while the wife of his gentle brother Aruns 
was the very essence of wickedness. Enraged at the long life of 
her father, and at the indifference of her husband, who seemed to 
be willing to leave the succession to his more ambitious brother, 
she planned destruction for both. An agreement was entered into 
25 



29t HISTORY OF ROME. 

between her and Lucius, that he should kill his wife, and she her 
husband, and that then she and Lucius should be united in mar- 
riage. When these crimes were accomplished, Lucius, stimulated 
by his fiendish wife, entered into a conspiracy with discontented 
patricians, with the view of destroying the aged king Servius. 
About the harvest season, when many of the people were engaged 
in the fields, Lucius Tarquinius appeared in the senate with the 
ensigns of royalty, and a band of armed followers. The king, when 
informed of these proceedings, hastened to the curia, and called 
Tarquinius a usurper. The latter, then seizing the king, threw him 
down the stone steps. lie was picked up bleeding and bruised, by 
his faithful adherents, who endeavoured to carry him home ; but 
before reaching the palace, they wei'e overtaken by the emissaries 
of L. Tarquinins. The king was murdered, and his body left lying 
in the street. Meantime Tullia, the wife of Tarquinius, impatient 
to receive the news of her husband's success, hastened to the senate, 
and saluted him as king. This unnatural conduct was too much 
even for L. Tarquinius, who bade her return home. When on her 
way back, the chariot drove through the street in which her father's 
body was lying ; the mules on approaching it reared, and the driver 
stopped ; but Tullia ordered him to go on, and the chariot passed 
over the king's body, the blood of which stained the garments of 
the unnatural daughtei*. The street in which this happened bore 
ever after the name of viciis sccleratus, or the accursed street. 

14. L. Tarquinius, surnamed Superbus, now ascended the throne, 
on which he maintained himself from B. c. 534 to 510. The con- 
stitutional reforms of Servius Tullius were abolished at once, and 
the labours of that king seemed to have been spent in vain. The 
acts of oppression ascribed to Tarquinius are almost incredible; but 
it cannot be denied that he was a man of great military skill, for 
he enlarged his kingdom more than any of his predecessors, and 
embellished the city with great and useful architectural structures. 
The Latin towns were compelled to conclude a treaty with him, in 
which Rome was recognised as the head of them all; he conquered 
Suessa Pometia, the wealthy town of the A^olscians, and strength- 
ened and extended the dominion of Ivome by the establishment of 
colonies, such as Signia and Circeii, thus laying the foundation of 
Rome's dominion, for it was through such colonies, both Roman 
and Latin, that the power of Rome was established, and her lan- 
guage and civilisation were diffused over all parts of the peninsula. 
But in spite of his military achievements, even the patricians began 
to show symptoms of discontent, for it was but too evident that 
he aimed to do away with the senate, and establish himself as 
an absolute ruler. His acts of oppression towards the senate and 
the patricians, the heavy taxes and task-work demanded of the ple- 
beians, called forth feelings among his subjects which could not be 



ABOLITION OF ROYALTY. 291 

mistaken. The king, it is said, was harassed by dreams and threat- 
ening prodigies; in this distress he sent two of his sons, Titus and 
Aruns, to consult the oracle of Delphi. To amuse them on their 
journey, he sent along with them a cousin, L. Junius Brutus, who 
had assumed the character of an idiot to escape being put to death 
by the king. When the princes had executed their orders at Del- 
phi, their curiosity prompted them to consult the god about them- 
selves also, and the answer given was that the throne of Rome 
should belong to him who, on returning home, should be the first to 
kiss his mother. Upon this it was agreed that the brothers should 
kiss their mother simultaneously, and that thus they should reign 
in common. But on their landing in Italy, Brutus, as if falling by 
accident, without being observed, kissed the earth, the mother 
of all. 

15. Some time after this the Romans were besieging Ardea, the 
fortified town of the Rutulians. As the siege was protracted, it 
one day happened that while the king's sons and their cousin Tar- 
quinius CoUatinus were discussing in their tent the virtues of their 
wives, it was agreed that the three should return home by night to 
surprise them, and see how they were spending their time. At 
Rome the princesses were found revelling at a luxurious bancjuet, 
but on coming to Collatia, they found Lucretia, the wife of Tarqui- 
nius CoUatinus, engaged with her maids in spinning. In this occu- 
pation she appeared so beautiful and lovely, that one of the princes, 
Sextus Tarquinius, a few days later, returned to Collatia, where as 
a kinsman he was hospitably received. But in the dead of night he 
entered her chamber, and threatened to kill her, to lay a dead hlave 
by her side, and to declare that he had detected her in adulterous 
intercourse with him, if she would not consent to gratify his lust. 
By the combination of these terrors he gained his end. But on the 
following morning she sent for her father and her husband. Both 
came, accompanied by P. Valerius and L. Junius Brutus. The dis 
consolate Lucretia related to them what had happened, and having 
called on them to avenge the wrong, plunged a dagger into her breast 
The moment had now come for Brutus to throw off the mask ; ho 
drew the dagger from her breast and vowed destruction to the royal 
house of the Tarquins. In this vow he was cordially joined by hib 
friends who stood round the body of Lucretia, which was then car- 
ried into the market-place of Collatia. The people there at once 
took up arms, and promised to obey the commands of the libera- 
tors. Brutus then proceeded to Rome, where the sad tale produced 
the same effect as at Collatia. Brutus, who held the ofiice of tri- 
huniis celervm- (commander of the cavalry), summoned a meeting 
of the people in the Forum, and it was unanimously decreed that 
king Tarquin should be deposed and banished, with all his family. 
Lucretia's father remained behind as commander of the garrison at 



292 Hia.'ORY OF ROME. 

Rome, while Brutus set out for Ardea to attack the king;. When 
he arrived in the camp, the soldiers confirmed the decree of the 
people, and the king, who had gone to Rome by a different road, 
finding the gates closed against him, took refuge at .Caere in 
Etruria. 

16. Such is the legendary story of a revolution which for ever 
put an end to the kingly government at Rome. How much there 
is of real history in it cannot be ascertained, though it scarcely 
admits of a doubt that Tarquinius Superbus was the last king of 
Rome, and that his rule had been very tyrannical, whatever allow- 
ances we may make for exaggeration. But whether the revolution 
was accomplished in the quiet and rapid way in which the legend 
describes it, is more than doubtful. During the period which is 
closed by it, Rome was an elective monarchy, and it is only under 
the later kings that we hear of sons claiming the right to succeed 
their fathers on the throne. The king, elected by and from among 
the patricians, was the supreme magistrate, and as such commander 
of the armies, supreme judge, and the high priest of the nation. 
His power was not absolute, for he had to consult the Senate, or 
council of elders, which existed at Rome as in most ancient states. 
Its members were indeed chosen by the king him.self, but their 
number, three hundred, seems to suggest that the Senators were 
the representatives of the three tribes and the thirty curiae ; at all 
events the king was obliged, by custom, to listen to the advice of 
the senate, at whose meetings either he himself or his representa- 
tive (the prac/ectus urhi) presided. Independently of the senate, 
the king's power was limited by the assembly of the people, that is, 
the old citizens or patricians, in their comitia cvriata, until, by the 
reforms of Servius Tullius, the great national assembly, the comitia 
centuriata, stepped into the place of the former. All matters which 
had to be brought before the assembly of the people, such as those 
connected with peace and war, the election of magistrates and pro- 
posals of new laws, were first discussed and prepared in the senate, 
and if sanctioned by that body, were then laid before the people, 
who might either adopt or reject them. 

17. As to the state of civilisation among the Romans during the 
regal period, we have every reason to believe that they were not 
very far behind our own ancestors during the middle ages; for 
they had a regularly organised form of government, lived in towns 
surrounded by fortifications, had regular armies, and above all, loved 
and cherished agriculture, and constructed architectural works, 
which still attract the admiration of travellers. The legends con- 
tain many traits revealing to us the ways of living among the early 
Romans. The art of writing, which was, no doubt, introduced 
among the Romans by the Greeks settled in southern Italy, was 
known during the regal period, but was not employed for literary 



RIGOUR OF L. JUNIUS BRUTUS. 293 

purposes. King Servius Tullius is said to have coined the first 
brass, and to have marked it with the figure of some animal, 
whence the name pecunia for money. 



CHAPTER III. 

FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REPUBLIC UNTIL THE 
DECEMVIRAL LEGISLATION. 

1. After the expulsion of the Tarqnins, B. c. 509, the people 
assembled in the comitia abolished the kingly dignity for ever, 
restored the laws of Servius Tullius, and elected two magistrates 
from among the patricians, L. Junius Brutus and Tarquinius Colla- 
tinus, who, under the title of praetors (afterwards consuls) were to 
conduct the government for one year. These magistrates had the 
same power and the same insignia as the kings, except that the 
priestly functions of the king were transferred to a new dignitary, 
called rex sacrorum. The power of the patricians was virtually 
increased, inasmuch as two of their order might every year be 
raised to the highest magistracy. The senate and the comitia cen- 
turiata retained the powers assigned to them by Servius Tullius. 
The plebeians, being completely under the dominion of the patricians, 
were probably in a worse condition than they had been under the 
monarchy, as the king would naturally favour the great body of the 
plebs, to have in them a counterpoise to the arrogant and ambitious 
nobles. The plebeians were excluded from all the public ofl&ces and 
from the right of contracting legal marriages with patricians. In 
the great national assembly the patricians carried every measure by 
the overwhelming numbers of their votes, so that the plebeians 
exercised scarcely any influence upon the elections and the passing 
of laws. The administration of justice, moreover, was completely 
in the hands of the patricians. Under such circumstances a conflict 
between the two orders could not be far distant. 

2. The young republic had from the first to maintain very serious 
struggles against both domestic and foreign enemies. Even under 
the very first consuls ;; number of young patricians formed a con- 
spiracy, the object of which was to restore the exiled king. When 
it was discovered, Brutus, with a sternness peculiarly characteristic 
of a Roman, ordered the guilty parties, and among them his own 
two sons, to be put to death. But the greatest danger came from 
Etruria, where Tarquinius, the exiled king, had solicited and ob 

25* 



294 HISTORY OF ROME. 

tained the aid of Porsenna, lars or lord of Clusiura. The Etruscan 
chief inarched against Rome and established himself on the hill 
Janieulum, on the right biink of the Tiber. The war with this 
powerful colony was afterwards greatly embellished by tradition 
and popular lays, in which the glory and valour of the republican 
Romans appear in most brilliant colours. Once, it is said, the 
Romans crossed the Tiber for the purpose of driving the invader 
from his stronghold, but were repulsed and obliged to return to the 
city. The enemy would have followed them across the river, had 
not Horatius Codes, a valiant and powerful Roman, who was in- 
trusted with the guarding of the wooden bridge (pons snhh'chts), 
with two comrades kept the whole hostile army at bay, while the 
Romans were engaged in breaking down the bridge. Soon he 
even dismissed his two companions and alone resisted the attacks 
of the foe, until the crashing of the timber and the shouts of his 
fellow-citizens announced to him that the work of demolition wag 
completed. He then prayed to Father Tiber to receive him and 
his arms in his sacred stream, and leaping into the river safely 
swam across amid showers of darts sent after him by the Etruscans. 
His grateful countrymen rewarded him with a statue in the comitium 
and with as much land as he could plough round in a day. A 
similar reward was given to Mucius Scaevola ; for when during the 
protracted siege Rome was suffering from famine, that heroic youth, 
with the sanction of the Senate, undertook to deliver the city by 
murdering the chief of the Etruscans. He secretly made his way 
into the enemy's camp, and being acquainted with the Etruscan 
language contrived to reach the tent of Porsenna. But by mistake 
he killed the king's scribe instead of the king himself. He was 
seized, and as the king was endeavouring by threats to extort his 
confession, Mucius thrust his right hand into the fire which was 
burning on an altar close by, to show that he dreaded neither death 
nor torture. From this circumstance he derived the surname of 
Scaevola, that is, left-handed. 

3. But however fascinating the stories are in which the Romans 
have clothed the first struggles of their republic for freedom and 
independence, we know on good authority that Porsenna made 
himself master of Rome, and obliged the Romans to purchase his 
departure by giving him hostages, and ceding to him one-third of 
*heir territory, that is, ten out of their thirty local tribes. It de- 
serves to be noticed, that throughout this war, which is said to have 
been undertaken on behalf of the exiled Tarquinius, he himself is 
never once mentioned as taking part in it. After the war, Por- 
senna also disappears, and is no more heard of. About the same 
time, B. c. 505, the Romans had to carry on war against the Sabines, 
and some revolted towns of the Auruncans, against both of whom 
their arms were successful. A more formidable war, however, 



CONDITION OF THE PLEBEIANS. 29' 

broke out in B. c. 501 with the Latins, whom Tarquinius, through 
the influence of a kinsman, is said to have stirred up against Rome. 
Thirty Latin towns conspired against Rome, and, under these 
aUirming circumstances, the Romans, thinking it safer to pkce the 
supreme power in the hands of one man, appointed, in B. C. 498, 
T. Larcius dictator, an office which existed in several Latin towns. 
This step kept the enemy in awe, and the plebeians at home in 
quiet submission. The war lasted for several years, until it was 
brought to a close in B. C. 496, by the famous battle of lake Regil- 
lus, on the road from Rome to Praeneste. The victory was gained 
by the Romans, in whose ranks the gods Castor and Pollux were 
seen fighting. The whole account of this battle, which forms the 
close of the mythical period in Roman history, is thoroughly fabu- 
lous; the victory over the Latins cannot be true, as three years 
later, B. C. 49-3, they concluded a treaty with Rome, under Spurius 
Cassius, in which they were placed on a footing of equality with 
her, without any previous dispute or feud being mentioned. King 
Tarquinius is said to have been wounded in the battle, and to have 
withdrawn to the Greek tyrant of Cumae, where he soon after died 
in B. c. 495. 

4. As long as Tarquinius was alive, and Rome was threatened 
by foreign enemies, the patricians did their best to keep the ple- 
beians in good humour, as they required their aid in the battles, 
for the main body of the Roman armies consisted of plebeians, and 
without them it would have been impossible for the republic to 
maintain itself. But no sooner had the dangers passed away, than 
the patricians, disregarding everything but their own interests and 
privileges, gave the rein to their avarice and domineering spirit. 
The plebeians were free landed proprietors, without possessing the 
franchise ; but they were obliged to pay the tributum or land-tax, 
and serve in the armies without pay. During the time of their 
military service, their fields, if they were not overrun or taken by 
the enemy, were at all events neglected. The harvest time gene- 
rally manifested the deplorable consequences of this state of things, 
and the small landed proprietors, to escape from momentary dis- 
tress, had to borrow of their wealthy neighbours, who were gene- 
rally patricians, at an exorbitant rate of interest of from ten to 
twelve per cent. The law of debt at Rome, as in many other 
ancient states, was extremely severe, and if the debtor did not pay 
back the borrowed money at the stipulated time, his person and 
estate wei-e forfeited to the creditor, who might seize and employ 
him as if he were his slave, while his family sank deeper and 
deeper into misery. The patrichins, who alone were entitled to 
occupy the public or domain land conquered in war, and had it 
cultivated by their clients, who did not serve in the armies, were 
to a great extent exempted from the misfortunes which might befal 



296 HISTORY OF ROME. 

tlie plebeians, and which appear to have become more serious every 
year from the time of their incorporation with the Roman state. 
The oppression exercised by the patricians became in the end 
unbearable, and as the law was all in favour of the hard-hearted 
creditors, the plebeians in B. c. 495 rose in open rebellion, and in 
the following year seceded in arms to a hill a few miles distant from 
Rome, where they encamped, fully resolved not to return until they 
should obtain redress of their grievances. But Menenius Agripp.i, 
who was sent to them as deputy by the senate, prevailed upon them, 
by the well-known fable of the Belly and the Members, to abandon 
their useless scheme, and promised that the evils under which they 
suffered should be remedied. A compact was then concluded 
between the two estates, that all who had lost tfleir freedom through 
debt should be restored, and that five tribunes of the plebs should 
be appointed, whose business it should be to protect the plebeians 
against any abuse of the authority of a magistrate, and whose per- 
sons were to be sacred and inviolate. At the same time two 
plebeian aediles were appointed, who had the superintendence of 
public buildings, and exercised a control over usurers and mer- 
chants, to prevent unnecessary dearth of provisions. After the 
conclusion of this solemn compact the plebeians quitted the hill, 
which, from these transactions, was ever after called the Sacred 
Mount. 

5. The contest between the two orders had now commenced, and 
some important advantages had been gained by the plebeians. 
Throughout the noble struggles which succeeded, the patricians 
acted more or less the part of an exclusive caste, while the ple- 
beians represented what we may call the people. The stubbornness, 
tenacity, and selfishness with which the former clung to their rights 
and privileges, formed the strongest impediment to the steady and 
progressive development of the institutions of the state. If they, 
with their clients, had succeeded in maintaining their exclusive 
rights of citizenship, Rome would have become a rigid oligarchy, 
its place in the history of the world woul'd not have risen above 
that of many other petty republics, and in the end it would have 
miserably perished from mere want of vitality. This latter princi- 
ple rested with the plebeians, and in their struggles against aristo- 
cratic exclusiveness, it bore the noblest fruit, and made Rome the 
mistress of the world. 

6. Shortly after the secession of the plebs, during which the 
cultivation of the fields had been almost entirely neglected, Rome 
suffered from dearth and famine, and when at length ships laden 
with corn arrived from Sicily, the insolent patrician C. Marcius 
Coriolanus, proposed that none of it should be given to the ple- 
beians unless they consented to renounce the advantages they had 
gained by their secession to the Sacred Mount. At this the pie- 



sp. CAssius. 297 

beians were so exasperated, that they outlawed him and obliged 
him, in B. C. 491, to take refuge among; the Volscians, whom he 
persuaded to make an inroad into the lloman territory, promising 
that he would lead them as their commander. Under his guidance 
they advanced within five miles of the city, and nothing could 
induce him to abandon his hostile undertaking against his own 
country, until he was at length prevailed upon by the tears and 
entreaties of his mother and his wife to retreat. He is said to have 
died soon after, overwhelmed with grief and shame. The Volscians, 
however, retained possession of some of the Latin towns which they 
had conquered. In the year B. C. 486, the same Spurius Cassius, 
who had brought about the equal alliance with the Latin towns, 
concluded one on the same terms with the Ilernicans. By this 
union of the Romans, Latins, and Hernicans, fresh strength was 
gained against the ^quians and Volscians. This saiue year, in 
which Cassius concluded the league with the Hernicans, is also 
remarkable as the one in which an agrarian law was first mentioned 
at Rome. The Roman state possessed very extensive domains of 
land conquered in war, which were not the property of any indi- 
vidual, but the use of which was given up to the patricians on 
condition of their paying to the treasury a small sum as an acknow- 
ledgment. This domain land (ager puhlicus), however, came 
gradually to be regarded by its occupants as their private property, 
which they had cultivated by their clients and slaves, and for which 
they did not always think it necessary to pay the rent to the state, 
for they themselves and they alone constituted the state. The ple- 
beians from time to time demanded likewise to be permitted to 
occupy portions of the public land ; but whenever such an agrarian 
bill (lex agraricf) was brought forward, it was met by the most 
determined opposition on the part of the patricians. Sp. Cassius 
was the first Roman that is known to have proposed and carried an 
agrarian law, ordaining that a certain portion of the public land 
should be distributed among those plebeians who did not possess 
any landed property. The noble efforts of this man to prevent the 
growth of pauperism and to transform the poor into industrious 
husbandmen, who at all times constituted the mainstay of the 
Roman republic, were ill requited, for in the year after his consul- 
ship, B. C. 485, he was sentenced to denth by the patricians, and 
beheaded. The house in which he had lived was levelled with the 
ground, and the spot itself was declared accursed. Although the 
law had been passed in due form, the patricians prevented its being 
carried into effect by every means in their power. Many years 
afterwards, B. c. 473, a tribune Genucius arraigned the consuls 
before the commonalty for not allowing the law to be put in opera- 
tion, but on the morning of the day before the trial the tribune 
was found murdered in his own house. These acts of violence and 



298 HISTORY OF ROME. 

injustice for a time intimidated the friends of the plebeians; but 
their perseverance did not abate, and ultimately compelled the pride 
of the patricians to succumb. 

7. By these internal feuds and disputes, Rome was so much 
weakened that the Etruscans and ^quians were enabled to conquer 
one town after another; and when at length, in B. c. 477, the whole 
clan of the Fabii, amounting to three hundred and sis men, 
marched out against them, they were all slain by the Etruscans on 
the banks of the river Cremera; one only had remained in Rome, 
and he became the ancestor of the Fabii, whom we meet with in 
later times. Not long before this event, the Fabii had been proud 
and haughty champions of their order against the plebeians, but 
afterwards siding with the oppressed, they brought upon themselves 
the hatred of the patricians. This seems to have called forth in 
them a desire to emigrate ; they proposed to the senate to carry on 
a long protracted war against Veii at their own expense. The 
request was readily granted, and amid the good wishes of the 
people they marched against the enemy. They ravaged the country, 
and were successful in many an enterprise ; but their success 
diminished their caution, and being drawn into an ambuscade by 
their desire to capture a herd of cattle which had been sent out on 
purpose, they were surrounded by the enemy, and cut to pieces to 
a man. This story of the Fabii is only a popular legend, though 
not without an historical foundation. 

8. In the south and west the vEquians and Volscians continued 
their inroads into the Roman territory. The former, so the story 
runs, had concluded peace with Rome, but their commander Grac- 
chus Cloelius nevertheless led his troops to mount Algidus, and 
thence they renewed their inroads every year. A Roman embassy 
appearing in his camp was scoi'nfully received, and the Roman 
consul L. Minucius was defeated by the ^quians and besieged in 
his own camp. Five horsemen, who had escaped before the lines 
were closed around the camp, brought the disastrous news to Rome, 
and the senate appointed L. Quinctius Cincinnatus dictator, B. c. 
458. The news of his elevation was brought to him on his farm, 
which consisted of four jugera or acres, and which he cultivated 
with his own hands. The next day at dawn the dictator appeared 
in the Forum, and nominated L. Tarquitius his master of the horse. 
All men capable of bearing arms were called upon to enlist, and in 
three days he marched with his army to mount Algidus. He sur- 
rounded the ^quians, and the Romans in the camp having received 
a signal that succour had arrived, broke through the surrounding 
enemy. A desperate fight then commenced; it lasted a long time, 
and when in the end the ^quians found that they were surrounded, 
they implored the dictator to spare them. Gracchus Cloelius and 
the other commanders were put in chains, and the rest were obliged 



ADMINISTRATION OF LAW. 299 

to lay down their arms and pass under the yoke. The town of 
Corbio and the ^quian camp fell into the hands of the victors. 
Cincinnatus then returned to Rome in triumph, and was rewarded 
with a golden crown. After having been invested with the dicta- 
torship for no more than sixteen days, he laid down his office and 
returned to his farm. This is said to have happened in B. c. 458, 
but the whole story, as related by Livy, seems to be only a beauti- 
ful poetical legend about the historical fact that Minucius was 
rescued by succour sent to him from Rome. The ^quians were 
indeed defeated, but the war against them was continued with 
varying success, until B. C. 446, when in the battle of Corbio they 
were so much weakened that for a time they were unable again to 
take up arms against Rome. 

9. There existed in ancient Rome no code of written laws ; the 
administration of justice, based upon hereditary usage, was altogether 
in the hands of the patricians, who were often guilty of acts of the 
most flagrant injustice. With the view to prevent their arbitrary 
proceedings, and to acquire a knowledge of the law and its forms, 
the plebeians began to demand that a code of laws should be drawn 
up. The patricians, regarding this as an encroachment upon their 
prei'ogatives, offered a long and violent opposition to the demand. 
During these disputes, party animosity reached the highest pitch. 
In B. C. 471, the tribune Publilius Volero, amid the most fearful 
opposition, carried several laws, which enacted that the plebeian 
magistrates (tribunes and aediles) should be elected by the plebeian 
comitia of the tribes, and that these same comitia should have the 
power of passing resolutions (plehiscita) on matters affecting the 
interest of the whole state. The excitement produced by these 
measures divided Rome into two hostile camps, and this feeling, 
together with a terrible epidemic which carried off large numbers 
of all ranks, weakened Rome so much, that the ^quians and VoJ- 
scians dared to advance on their predatory excursions, which have 
already been noticed, as far as the very gates of Rome ) and Her- 
donius, a Sabine adventurer, with a baud of runaway slaves and 
exiles, who had actually taken possession of the Capitol, was ex- 
pelled only with great difficulty. The first formal demand for a 
written code of laws was made in b. c. 462 by the tribune C. Ter- 
entillus Arsa, and although it was violently opposed, the idea could 
not be crushed ; similar demands were afterwards repeated, and the 
plebeians were determined to carry their point. In B. C. 457, the 
number of tribunes was increased from five to ten, it having 
probably been found that the previous number was insufficient to 
afford protection in all cases. Three years later, the bill of Teren- 
tillus Arsa was taken up again, and it was at last agreed that the 
laws should be revised; it was further resolved as a prelimmary 
step, that three senators should be sent to Athens to study the laws 



300 HISTORY OF ROME. 

and constitution of that republic and of other Greek states, and to 
bring back a report of such laws and institutions as it might seem 
desirable to adopt at Kome. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FROM THE DECEMVIRAL LEGISLATION DOWN TO THE FINAL j 
SUBJUGATION OF LATIUM. 

1. After the return of the ambassadors from Greece, both orders 
agreed that a commission of ten patricians should be appointed to | 
draw up a code of laws, that they should have full power to act as ; 
they thought fit, and that for the time all other magistrates, perhaps i 
with the excepiion of the tribunes, should have their powers sus- j 
pended. The decemvirs who entered upon their office in B. c. 451, i 
performed the duty intrusted to them honestly and satisfactorily; j 
but as at the end of the year their task was not completed, they ■ 
were unhesitatingly permitted to continue their office and their 
labours for another year. The expectations of the people, however, 
were now fearfully disappointed, and every kind of cruelty was 
resorted to in punishing those plebeians who ventured to express an 
opinion upon the proceedings of the Ten ; nay, an aged and brave 
plebeian whose opposition they feared most, and who was serving 
against the enemies of Rome, was drawn into an ambuscade and 
assassinated by his own countrymen. At the close of the second 
year, when the legislation was completed and the laws were engraven 
upon twelve tables, the decemvirs still persisted in retaining their 
office, and would perhaps have succeeded in their usurpation, had 
not the haughty Appius Claudius, the most influential among them, 
by his brutal lust and injustice called forth a fearful outbreak of the 
smothered discontent. He had conceived a desire to possess Vir- 
ginia, the beautiful daughter of the plebeian Virginius, who was 
already betrothed to another. In order to gain this object, he 
prevailed upon one of his clients to declare the maiden to be a run- 
away slave of his own, and to claim her as his property before the 
tribunal of the decemvir. A large concourse of people assembled 
in the Forum to witness the trial. Claudius assigned the maiden 
to his client • but her father having obtained permission to take 
leave of her, plunged a knife into her heart to save his child from 
dishonour. 

2. The excitement in the city was immense ; the authority of 
the decemvirs was set at defiance by the people, and the army, 



CONNUBIUM — CENSORSHIP. 301 

which was engaged against the Sabines, on learning what had hap- 
pened, quitted the camp and took possession of the Aventine, 
resolved to leave Eome and seek a new home elsewhere. The ple- 
beians with their families then proceeded to the Sacred Mount. 
Valerius and Horatius, two of the most popular among the pa- 
tricians, were despatched to the plebeians to treat with them on any 
terms they might think fit. The plebeians demanded the right of 
appeal against any magistrate, an amnesty for themselves, and that 
the decemvirs should be deposed. All was granted and sanctioned 
by the senate, and the plebeians returned to Rome. Appius Claudius 
was thrown into prison and died by his own hand; one of his col- 
leagues perished in the same manner, and the remaining eight went 
into exile. The laws of the Twelve Tables, however, remained in 
force, and ever after formed the basis of the Eoman law. The only 
constitutional change which they seem to have introduced was that 
the patricians became members of the local tribes which had pre- 
viously consisted of the plebeians alone. But this was for the 
present no great advantage, for the assembly of the tribes did not 
Ni.s yet possess any legislative power ; the plebeians were still ex- 
cluded from the highest magistracy and from a share in the public 
land, and marriages could not be legally contracted between patri- 
cians and plebeians. The mere fact, however, of the laws being 
now fixed was a great gain, inasmuch as the plebeians were no 
longer exposed to the arbitrary proceedings of the patricians. 

3. After the recent reconciliation, the patricians still continued 
to annoy the plebeians in a variety of ways, and the hotter spirits 
among the latter were inclined to retaliate, but as a body the ple- 
beians were moderate, though firm, and it was evident that they 
were aiming at nothing short of a perfect equality of rights with 
the patricians. In B. c. 44-5 the tribune Canuleius brought forward 
a bill demanding for the plebeians the right of contracting legal 
marriages with patricians (connuhlum^, and the bill was passed 
amid the fiercest opposition. Another bill proposed that one of the 
consuls should always be a plebeian; but after long and violent 
discussions of this question, it was agreed that, instead of consuls, 
military tribunes with consular power should sometimes be elected, 
who should be taken indiscriminately from the plebeians, as well as 
from the patricians. The senate, however, retained the power of 
determining in each year whether consuls or consular tribunes 
should be elected. The ancient and venerable dignity of the con- 
sulship was thus saved for the patricians, who in most cases also 
contrived to keep the military tribuneship in their own hands ; and 
in order that the plebeians might never enjoy the full powers of 
the consulship, two censors were appointed in B. c. 443, whose 
functions had previously belonged to the consuls. This new office 
was accessible to patricians only, and was filled anew everv five 
26 



302 HISTORY OF ROME. 

years, which period was called a lustrum, though the censors had 
to perforin their duties within the term of eighteen months. Theyii 
had to make up and keep lists of all the Romans, in which sena- 
tors, equites, and the rest of the citizens, were classed according to I 
their rank and property ; they collected the rent for the domain 
land, superintended the building of temples, and the making of 
roads and bridges, and exercised a severe control over the moral 
conduct of citizens, offences against which they were empowered to 
punish by depriving a person of his civil rights or of his rank and I 
station in society. ! 

4. The establishment of the connuhium, or right of contracting I 
legal marriages between the two orders, seems to have somewhat! 
softened their animosity ; but patrician malice and intrigue never- 
theless did not easily allow an opportunity to pass, where the ple- 
beians could be humbled. In E. c. 440 Rome was visited by a 
famine, and all endeavours of the government to mitigate the evil 
were of no avail. A wealthy plebeian, Spurius Maelius, generously 
purchased large quantities of grain, and sold it at a moderate price 
to the famishing people. The popularity he thus acquired alarmed 
the patricians ; they feared treacherous plots and conspiracies, and 
charged him with aiming at regal power. The aged Quinctius Cin- 
cinnatus, who was appointed dictator in b. c. 439, summoned Mae- 
lius before his tribunal ; and as Maelius prepared to defend himself, 
Servilius Ahala, the dictator's master of the horse, slew him in 
broad daylight in the midst of the Forum. 

5. During these internal struggles, the Roman armies, in which 
the plebeians manfully and bravely defended their country, fought 
many successful battles against foreign enemies. Allied with and 
strengthened by the Latins and Hernicans, they repeatedly defeated 
the Volscians and jEquians, and reduced their territories. The 
town of Fidenae, which had been colonised by the Romans at an 
early period, but had committed many outrages, was destroyed in 
B. c. 426, notwithstanding the assistance it obtained from the 
Etruscan city of Veil. This led to a desperate war with Veii, 
against which Rome directed all her forces, and which was taken, 
in B. c. 396, by Camillus, after a siege of ten years. The account 
of the manner in which Veii was captured is nothing but a beauti- 
ful lay, in which that city acts a similar part to that of Troy in the 
Trojan legends; but there can be no doubt that its inhabitants were 
partly slain, and partly sold as slaves. During the protracted war 
against Veii, the senate of its own accord decreed that in future 
pay should be given to the soldiers from the public treasury, for 
until then they had had to equip and maintain themselves. This 
measure enabled the government to keep its armies longer in unin- 
terrupted service than would otherwise have been possible, and the 

• men became no doubt more willing to serve than they had been 



THE GAULS. 303 

before. Camillus, the proud conqueror of Veil, celebrated a mag- 
nificent triumph, but as his soldiers considered themselves robbed by 
him of their legitimate share in the booty, and as he opposed the 
proposal to distribute the territory of Veil among the plebeians, he 
drew upon himself the hatred of the people. In b. c. 391, he was 
charged with having secreted a portion of the spoil taken at Veii ; 
and in order to escape condemnation, he went into exile, at a time 
when Rome needed her great commander more than ever. 

6. She was now on the eve of a conflict with a branch of one of 
the most widely spread nations of Europe, the Celts or Gauls, who 
are said to have crossed the Alps as early as the reign of Tarquinius 
Priscus. Soon after their arrival in Italy they drove the Etruscans 
from the plains in the north and east of the Appenines, and for a 
time those mountains seem to have formed the barrier between 
them and the Etruscans ; but in B. c. 391, swarms of them crossed 
the Appenines, and under the command of their chief, Brennus, 
laid siege to the Etruscan town of Clusium. The Clusines solicited 
the assistance of the Romans, the most powerful neighbours of the 
Etruscans, and the Romans at first sent only ambassadors to the 
Gauls to induce them not to molest the Etruscans ; but as their 
envoys did not succeed, a battle ensued between the Gauls and 
Etruscans, in which the Roman ambassadors took part and slew one 
of the Gallic chiefs. This violation of the law of nations enraged 
the barbarians, and as the Romans haughtily refused to surrender the 
offenders, the Gauls at once abandoned Clusium, and set out against 
Rome. On the banks of the little river Allia, about eleven miles 
from the city, they met the Roman army, and defeated it so com- 
pletely that only a few escaped by flight to Veii and Rome, B. c. 
390 ; Rome itself, from which the women and children had with- 
drawn, was in a defenceless state, and fell into the hands of the bar- 
barians. The city became a prey to the flames, and eighty old men 
of high rank, who had sat down in the Forum to devote themselves 
as a propitiatory sacrifice to the gods, were massacred. The Capitol 
alone, to which many of the most valuable treasures had been car- 
ried, was occupied and defended by the Romans. Its garrison, com- 
manded by the brave Manlius Capitolinus, off"ered a gallant resist- 
ance, while the Gauls like true barbarians, intoxicated with their 
recent victory, abandoned themselves to every kind of excess, in 
consequence of which their ranks were considerably thinned during 
the siege, which lasted seven months. This is said to have induced 
Brennus at length to accept one thousand pounds of gold, and to 
quit the territory of Rome ; but the haughty Gaul increased the 
gold by throwing his sword into the scale. At this moment Ca- 
millus, who had been recalled from his exile by the army assembled 
at Veii, arrived at the gates of Rome, and defeated the Gauls in a 
battle in which all of them were slain, and all the booty carried oflF 



304 HISTORY OF ROME. 

was recovered. This is the famous story of the sackhig of Roino 
by the Gauls, in b. C. 390, the latter part of which is fictitious, for 
we know that the Gauls left Home unmolested, because their own 
country in the north was invaded by another enemy. 

7. After the departure of the Gauls, the lloman people were so 
much disheartened, that they were unwilling to rebuild their ruined 
bouses, and proposed to migrate to Veii and establish themselves in ' 
that deserted city. The patricians, however, feeling a stronger i 
attachment to the place with which all their ancient associations J 
were connected, by great exertion prevailed upon the people to \ 
give up this scheme ; and in order that such a thought might never ' 
be conceived again, the people were allowed to demolish the houses 
still standing at Veii, and use the materials in rebuilding their own 
homes at Home. Scarcely had Rome been hastily rebuilt, with 
crooked and narrow streets and small houses, when the patricians 
again began to enforce their ancient privileges, and above all, to 
carry into execution, with the utmost rigour upon the impoverished 
people, the severe laws of debt, which had been retained in the 
Twelve Tables. The plebeians having already suffered severely 
during the Gallic invasion and the rebuilding of their houses, 
excited the sympathy of Manlius Capitolinus, the gallant defender 
of the Capitol, who now came forward as their champion, proposing 
a reduction of the debts, and distribution of public land. This so 
much incensed his brother patricians against him, that, under the 
futile pretest of his aiming at kingly power, they procured his con- 
demnation. The saviour of the Capitol was hurled down from the 
Tarpeian rock, his house was razed to the ground, and his name 
was treated as that of an accursed person. This disgraceful deed 
was perpetrated in B.C. 384. 

8. During the humiliation of Eome, the Hernicans and many of 
the Latin towns renounced their alliance with her, and the Vol- 
scians, ^quians, and Etruscans also took arms again. The last 
three nations were successively humbled by Camillus, who was the 
soul of all Roman undertakings during this period, and the towns 
of Sutrium and Nepete in Etruria received Roman colonists. Some 
of the Latin towns also were subdued, and it may be said on the 
whole, that Rome was rapidly recovering from the wounds of the 
Gallic conquest, and the evils that followed in its train. But the 
distress of the poor was ever on the increase, although in B. c. 383 
the senate had assigned to the plebeians the Pomptine district. 
The murder of Manlius also contributed once more to rouse the 
plebeians to action against their insolent oppressors. In B. C. 376, 
(]. Licinius Stolo and Lucius Sextius, two bold and energetic tri- 
bunes, took upon themselves the task of stopping the state in its 
downward career. They brought forward three rogations or bills — 
1st. That consuls should again be elected as of old, but that one 



WARS AGAINST THE GAULS. 305 

of them should always be a plebeian; 2d. That no man should be 
allowed to occupy of the public land more than five hundred jugera, 
and that after a due measurement, the surplus should be taken from 
the former occupants, and assigned to the plebeians as their full 
property ; and, od. That the interest already paid upon debts should 
be deducted from the principal, and that the remainder should be 
paid off in three annual instalments. The patricians, for a period 
of nearly ten yeai's, contrived to thwart these proposals, and left no 
means untried to render them abortive ; but all their efforts, and 
even the elevation of Camilius to the dictatorship, were of no avail 
against the firmness and perseverance of the tribunes, who contin- 
ued to prevent both the election of magistrates and the levies for 
the armies ; for it must be understood that the tribuneship — chiefly 
through the power of the Veto, that is, of prohibiting public acts — 
had become a much more influential ofiice than at its first institu- 
tion. At length, in b. c. 367, after a long period of strife and 
anarchy, the patricians were obliged to yield ; the proposals of the 
tribunes became law, and in B. c. 36G, L. Sextius was the first ple- 
beian consul. But in order to reserve for themselves as much as 
possible, the patricians contrived to strip the consulship of the 
power of jurisdiction in civil cases, which was now assigned to the 
praetor, an officer who was to be taken from the patricians exclu- 
sively. These precautions, however, were of no avail, for the year 
B. c. 356 saw the first plebeian dictator, 351 the first plebeian 
censor, 337 the first plebeian praetor ; and in B. c. 300, the priestly 
offices of pontiff" and augur were opened to the plebeians. By these 
successive measures, the equalization of the two orders was gradu- 
ally accomplished, and Rome, internally united and strong, was in 
a condition to enter upon the great career marked out for her by 
Providence. 

9. The reconciliation of the two orders, after the passing of the 
Licinian laws, was celebrated by the dedication of a temple to 
Concord by the aged Camilius, who soon after died of the plague 
which raged at Home for several years. The good results of the 
unity and harmony thus restored soon became manifest in the con- 
tests of the republic with her foreign enemies, especially in the 
conflicts with the hordes of Gauls who wandered through Italy, 
laying waste the country, and supporting the enemies of Rorae. It 
was in the course of these Gallic wars that the first plebeian dictator 
was appointed, B. C. 356, and that Manlius Tonjuatus and Valerius 
Corvus gained their immortal fame by deeds of heroism which were 
celebrated in Roman song. 

In B. c. 358, when the Gauls had pitched their camp on the 

banks of the river Allia, a Gaul of gigantic stature stepped upon 

the bridge which separated the two armies, and challenged any 

Roman to fight with him. Titus Manlius, a noble young Roman, 

i 26* 



306 HISTORY or r o m e . 

after having obtained the consul's -permission, accepted the chal- 
lenge. Lightly armed, he advanced against the boastful Gaul, and 
approached so closely, that the barbarian was unable to make use 
of his arms ; he then pierced him through the side and belly, and 
when the enemy thus lay prostrate, stripped him of his gold chain 
(torques), and put it round his own neck. From this circumstance 
he was ever after called T. Manlius Torquatus. Eight years later, 
B. c. 350, when another host of Gauls had advanced to the very 
neighbourhood of Rome, a powerful Gaul, according to the usual 
practice of his nation, challenged the bravest of the Romans to i 
single combat. M. Valerius, a young tribune of the soldiers, . 
accepted the challenge. When the combat began, a raven, which 
had settled upon the helmet of the Roman, flew at each onset into 
the face of the Gaul, who, being unable to see, was slain by Vale- 
rius ; the young Roman received from this miraculous ally the 
surname of Corvus. The successes gained by the Romans in these 
wars with the Gauls were in a great measure owing to the improve- 
ments in their armour and tactics which had been introduced by 
Camillus ; and the same progress in the military art, together with 
the renewed alliance with Latium, enabled the Romans to engage 
in a contest with the Samnites, a powerful nation, not inferior to 
them either in valour or love of liberty. 

10. The Samnites, the principal nation of the Sabellian race, 
occupied a country far more extensive than that of the Romans and 
Latins put together; they were more powerful than the Romans 
and Latins, together with whom they formed the great stock of 
nations which we have called specially Italian. In the earlier times 
they had colonized Capua and the plains of Campania and Lucania, 
but in the course of time these colonies had become estranged from 
the mother country. What the Samnites needed to make them 
successful against their foreign enemies, was union among them- 
selves, for they consisted of four cantons, which were but loosely 
connected. At the time when they came into conflict with Rome, 
they had been in alliance with her for ten years, and the cause of 
the hostility between them is related as follows : The Samnites 
were involved in a war against the Sidicines, who, being too weak, 
applied for assistance to Capua. The Campanians, one of the most 
eil'eminate and luxurious peoples of Italy, willingly granted the 
request, but were defeated by the Samnites in two battles. The 
Campanians then applied to Rome for assistance; but as the 
Romans scrupled to support strangers against their own allies, the 
Campanians, it is said, offered to acknowledge the supremacy of 
Rome, if she would but comply with their request. The scruple 
being thus removed, Rome at once resolved to succour then). From 
this account we might expect hereafter to find the Campanians in 
the relation of subjects to Rome, but such is not the case ; the fact 



FIRST SAMNITE WAR. 307 

is, that Rome, in supporting them, evidently violated the treaty with 
Sainnium ; and the above-mentioned story was devised only to dis- 
guise her unjust conduct. In this light it was viewed by the 
Satnnites, and the war between the two nations broke out in B. c. 
343, and lasted until 341. The series of wars, of which this was 
only the first, was destined to deci le which of the two nations was 
to have the supremacy in Italy, and through it that of the whole 
of the ancient world. In the first campaign, the Romans, under 
M. Valerius Corvus, gained a great victory on mount Gaurus. The 
second consular army which was destined to invade Samnium, came, 
through the carelessness of the consul, into a position among the 
mountains, where it certainly would have been destroyed but for 
the boldness and skill of Decius Mus, who contrived to get posses- 
sion of an eminence overhanging the enemy, and thus enabled his 
countrymen to pass safely through the defile. During the second 
year of the war, nothing of any importance was achieved, partly in 
consequence of disturbances at Rome arising from the severity of 
the law of debt, and partly on account of the disaffection of the 
Latins. The Romans, therefore, thought it prudent to conclude a 
peace with the Samnites, in which the old alliance with them was 
renewed, and fair terms were granted. 

11. The Campanians, now forsaken by the Romans, saw no other 
means of safety except in an alliance with Latium, in consequence 
of which Rome, in B. C. 340, at once began hostile operations 
against the Latins. The Latins, however, would have liked to 
avoid active hostilities, and to come to an amicable understanding 
with Rome, which, though allied with them on equal terms, had 
always contrived to domineer over its confederates. The Latins, 
therefore, now demanded that Rome and Latium should be really 
united as one state, that one of the consuls should be taken from 
the Latins, and that one-half of the senators should always be 
Latins. This demand, reasonable as it was, exasperated all classes 
of the Romans to such a degree that war was declared at once. 
During the first campaign the Latins transferred the war to Cam- 
pania, and at the foot of Mount Vesuvius a great battle was fought, 
in which one of the consuls, P. Decius, for the purpose of securing 
the victory to his own countrymen, caused himself to be devoted 
to death by a priest, and then rushed among the Latins like a spirit 
of destruction, until he himself was slain. During the same cam- 
paign, Manlius Torquatus, the other consul, exhibited an example 
of Roman severity which was revolting even to his own countrymen. 
Orders had been given that no man should engage in fighting out 
of his own line. The consul's son Manlius, on being taunted and 
provoked by a haughty Latin from Tusculum, was unable to control 
his anger, and slew the Tusculan. Delighted with his victory, he 
brought the spoils of his enemy before his father, but the latter 



308 HISTORY OF ROME. 

ordered tlie lictor to carry his threat into effect, by puttina; his son 
to death. The comrades of young Manlius honoured him with 
splendid funeral ceremonies, and the unnatural father was ever after 
shunned and scorned on account of this act. 

12. After the first defeat, the Latins were deserted by the Cam- 
panians, who obtained favourable terms from tbe Romans. The 
Latins, however, continued the war two years longer, and at first 
made the most desperate efforts to maintain their independence. 
But another defeat in the second campaign led to the dissolution 
of the Latin confederacy, after which most of the towns surren- 
dered one after another. Their example was followed by their 
allies the Volscians, so that, in B. C. 338, the subjugation of the 
country of the Latins and Volscians was completed. The conquered 
people, however, were treated with moderation ; some obtained the 
full Roman franchise, such as the towns of Aricia, Lanuvium, 
NomentuiB, and Pedum, while others received tbe franchise with- 
out the suffrage; others again became Roman municipia, that is, 
had an internal administration independent of Rome. Some of the 
more important towns, however, were humbled and weakened by 
their noble families being sent into exile, or by being deprived of 
portions of their territory. Each'Latin town, moreover, was isolated 
as much as possible from the others, that is to say, the covimercium 
and connuhium among the several towns were abolished. The 
question as to whether Rome should be only one in the confederacy 
of the Latin towns, or rule over them as their mistress, was now 
decided for ever, and she secured her power in the newly-conquered 
countries by the means already mentioned, and still more by the 
establishment of Roman and Latin colonies, which were in reality 
military garrisons stationed in the conquered places, and generally 
received one-third of the landed property of the original inhabitants. 

13. During the period of the wars against the Samnites and 
Latins, several important measures were adopted at Rome, partly to 
prevent the law of debt from weigliing too heavily upon the 
plebeians, and partly to check abuses of the powers of tlie magis- 
trates. In the year b. c. 339, the dictator Q. Publilius Philo 
enacted three important laws, the first of which abolished the veto 
of the patrician curiae on legal enactments passed by the comitia 
centuriata; the second gave to plebiscita the full power of laws 
binding on the whole nation ; and the third ordained that one of 
the censors should always be a plebeian. The lust vestiges of the 
patricians, as a privileged order, thus gradually disappeared one 
after another, without any great effort being made on the part of 
the patricians to maintain their once exclusive rights. The Roman 
republic now consisted of the Roman citizens, both patrician and 
plebeian, the Latins, and tbe allies as they were termed, though in 
reality they were the subjects of Rome, who provided the greater 
part of her armies in the wars against her more distant enemies. 



SUBJUGATION OF LATIUM. 309 

CHAPTER V. 

FROM THE SUBJUGATION OF LATIUM TO THAT OF ALL ITALY. 

1. The success of the Romans seems to have awakened the 
jealousy of the Samnites, and the Romans observing this feeling 
endeavoured to strengthen themselves partly by concluding treaties 
of alliance, but more especially by establishing colonies, that is, 
military garrisons, on or near the frontiers of Samnium. Such a 
colony was founded in B. c. 328, at Fregellae, a Volscian town, 
which had been conquered and destroyed by the Samnites, to whom, 
accordingly, the teri'itory belonged. This led to disputes and even 
threats on the part of the Samnites; but war was not declared 
until B. C. 326, when the Samnites had sent reinforcements to 
Neapolis in Campania, which was then at war with Rome. Neapolis 
soon after conckxded peace, but the Samnites were indemnified fur 
the loss of this ally by Lucania renouncing its alliance with Rome. 
The Tarentines also supported Samnium. In the first campaign a 
Roman army marched into Apulia, part of which was allied with 
the Samnites, and where with great difficulty the Romans made 
themselves masters of some towns, but afterwards gained a great 
victory. The Samnites then obtained a truce for one year, after 
the expiration of which a body of them entered Latium and gained 
over some of the Latin towns, while the Roman army was in great 
danger in Apulia. Rome, however, was saved by the Latin towns 
returning to their duty, and thus enabling her to drive the enemy 
from Latium. Meanwhile, in B. c. 322, her arms in Apulia also 
were successful ; Luceria and many smaller towns both in Apulia 
and in Samnium were conquered, and Fregellae was evacuated by 
the Samnites. The latter now offered to treat for peace, but the 
demands made by the Romans were of such a nature that the Sam- 
nites could not accept them. 

2. After this unsuccessful attempt at negotiation, the Samnites 
made evei-y effort to maintain their independence. Luceria was 
closely besieged by them, and in B. c. 321, the Romans, by the 
imprudent conduct of their consuls, Veturius and Postumius, lost 
nearly all the advantages they had gained in their previous cam- 
paigns • for the army being surrounded on all sides in the mountain 
pass of Caudium, and defeated in a fearful battle, was obliged to 
surrender. The survivors had to give up their arms and pass under 
the yoke, a symbolical act by which an army acknowledged itself to 
be vanquished. Pontius, the noble and modest commander of tho 
Samnites, again offered fair terms of peace ; these were accepted by the 
Roman commanders, and the army was then allowed to return home. 



310 HISTORY OP ROME. 

But the senate not only refused to ratify the peace, but decreed 
that those who had concluded it should be given up in chains to tie 
enemy, as persons that had deceived them. Pontius refused to 
accept them, and the war was continued by the Romans with re- 
doubled vigour, to wipe oif the disgrace of Caudium. Great vic- 
tories are henceforth ascribed to the Eomans to make up for the 
great defeat. The first important advantages were gained in Apulia, 
where Papirius Cursor distinguished himself; but Fabius Maximus 
was defeated in a great battle at Lautulae, in consequence of which 
many towns revolted from Rome. The suiFerings of the Samnites, 
however, were great, and their strength gradually sank. In B. c. 
314 they were defeated in several engagements; in the following 
year Fregellae was recovered, together with several other towns, 
and the submission of Campania and Apulia was secui'ed by various 
means. Rome had in fact the fairest prospects of speedily and 
thoroughly humbling her enemies, had not other events in different 
quarters prevented this consummation for a time. 

3. The Etruscans, who had long been apprehensive of Rome's 
growing power, took up arms against her in B. C. 311, and thus 
obliged her to divide her forces. The Romans accordingly not 
being able to direct all their strength against the Samnites, suffered 
a great defeat near Allifae, and the legions in Samnium were in 
great distress. Under these circumstances Papirius Cursor, being 
appointed dictator, in B. c. 309, hastened to their assistance, and so 
completely defeated the Samnites, that they took to flight, leaving 
their camp in the hands of the enemy. But the Samnites were 
then joined by the Marsians, Pelignians, and Umbrians. The last 
of these were indeed soon brought to submission by Fabius Max- 
imus ; but a great coalition was forming against Rome, in which 
the Hernicans and ^quians also took part, and which gave the 
Samnites fresh hopes. Notwithstanding all this, however, Rome's 
power was irresistible ; the war against Etruria was near its end, 
the Hernicans were easily overpowered, and the consuls Q. Marcius 
and P. Cornelius, directing their united forces against the Samnites, 
put them to flight in all directions, B. C. 306. The coalition on 
which they had relied being broken up, and their armies being de- 
feated, they concluded a short truce in the hope of obtaining peace 
on tolerable terms. When hostilities Avere recommenced, the 
Romans ravaged Samnium far and wide, until the Samnites, after 
another defeat at Bovianum in B. C. 305, were completely crushed. 
Negotiations for peace accordingly were commenced, and the Sam- 
nites were obliged to accept the terms dictated by Rome, to give up 
their supremacy over Lucinia, as well as their alliance with the 
Marsians, Pelignians, Marrucinians, and Frentanians, while Rome 
reserved to herself the right to interfere in all the external relations 
of Samnium. This peace, hard as it was, was acquiesced in because 



HERNICANS, -lEQUIANS, ETRUSCANS DEFEATED. 311 

the Samnites were so much reduced that they could not continue 
the war. Thus ended the second Samnite war, which had lasted 
from B. c. 326 to 304. 

4. The fate of the Hernicans after their reduction in B. c. 306, 
was on the whole the same as that of the Latins. The iEquians, 
who all along had supported the Samnites, rose in a body at the 
time when the Samnites had already concluded peace with Home. 
The consequence of this thoughtless insurrection was that their 
towns in a short period were conquered one after another, and most 
of them were destroyed. About this same time the Romans con- 
cluded a treaty with Tarentum, in- which it was stipulated that no 
Roman ships should sail beyond cape Lacinium. The Etruscan 
war above referred to broke out in B. c. 311, when the Etruscans, 
encouraged by the defeat of the Romans at Lautulae, hoped to be 
able to recover their ancient iodependence. Their country was no 
longer harassed by the wandering Celts, who had quietly settled 
down in the plaius on the north and east of the Appenines. But 
the Etruscans began the war against Rome too late, and after it 
had lasted for some years, their cities began, in B. c. 308, to con- 
clude peace with Rome each for itself for a fixed number of years. 
The interval between the second and third Samnite wars is marked 
only by the revolt of the ^quians already mentioned, and by the 
invasion of the Roman territory by a host of Celts who had just 
come across the Alps. But the barbarians did not stay long, and 
having collected vast quantities of booty returned to the north. 

5. The peace concluded with the Samnites lasted only six years, 
of which period the R,omans availed themselves for firmly estab- 
lishing their power in the countries they had recently conquered. 
The Samnites were only waiting for a favourable opportunity to 
recommence hostilities, and being led to think that the Romans 
were afraid of entering upon a fresh war, they resolved to try to 
recover the supremacy of Lucania, which was torn to pieces by 
factions. The Lucanian nobles, however, placed themselves under 
the protection of Rome, whereupon the Romans demanded of the 
Samnites to evacuate Lucania. This demand irritated them so 
much that war was declared at once, B. c. 298. At the same time 
the Etruscans again rose in arms, allied themsolves with the Um- 
brians, and even called in the aid of Gallic mercenaries. In the 
first two years of the third Samnite war, the Samnites were defeated 
in Lucania, at Bovianum, and at Maleventum in Samnium itself, 
which was fearfully ravaged. In the third year all Lucania was 
recovered by the Romans. The Etruscans were not more fortunate 
than the Samnites, and the latter sent out an array to their assist- 
ance ; but all was to no purpose ; the Roman arms were victorious 
everywhere, and a defeat of the Samnites in Campania delivered 
Rome from the fear of a revolt amoujic her allies. But what 



312 HISTORY OP B.OME. 

alarmed her, nevertheless, was a report that the Glauls were march- 
ing southward, and were allied with and supported by the Etruscans 
and Umbrians. In B. C. 295, under the consuls Q. Fabius and P. 
Decius, the Romans made incredible efforts to meet the threatening- 
storm. In Etruria they had suffered some severe reverses, but 
Fabius' arrival soon produced a favourable change, and in the great 
battle of Sentinum in Umbria, which was nearly lost, the self- 
sacrifice of Decius, who caused himself and the hostile army to be 
devoted to the infernal gods, gained for the Romans a signal 
victory. The Samnite army which had been sent into Etruria was 
cut to pieces, and twenty-five thousand Gauls and Samnites covered 
the field of battle, while eight thousand were made prisoners. 
From Umbria Fabius returned to Etruria, where he gained a 
victory over the Etruscans near Perusia. 

6. AVhile these things were going on in the north, where the 
enemies of Rome had endeavoured to unite their forces, another 
Samnite army had been engaged in fearfully ravaging part of Cam- 
pania, but there too they are said to have been beaten with great 
loss by the Roman army returning from Sentinum. In the two 
following years, the Romans continued to be successful both in 
Etruria, where most of the town thought it advisable to conclude 
peace with Rome, and in Samnium. The people of the latter 
country now exerted all their strength, and having enlisted all 
their men capable of bearing arms, invaded Campania. But an 
invasion of Samnium by the Romans obliged them to return, and 
the Romans having gained a great and decisive victory, carried off 
an immense quantity of booty. No sooner, however, had they 
withdrawn from Samnium than the Samnites, under the command 
of the noble-minded Pontius, again invaded Campania. At first, 
the Romans who met the enemy were defeated, and had it not been 
for the excessive caution of the Samnites, the Roman army would 
have been completely annihilated. But soon after this, in B. c. 292, 
the aged Q. Fabius Maximus undertaking the command, a fierce 
battle was fought, which decided the contest between Rome and 
Samnium. Twenty thousand Samnites were killed, and four thou- 
sand made prisoners, among whom was the brave Pontius. The 
issue of the war was now decided, although the submission of Sam- 
nium was delayed for two years longer. Pontius was led to Rome 
in chains, and then beheaded — a savage treatment of a man to 
whose generous forbearance it had been owing that the whole Roman 
army was not destroyed after the defeat of Caudium. The Sam- 
nites do not appear after this to have ventured again to meet their 
enemies in the field ; and in B. C. 290 they sued for peace, which 
was granted on condition that Samnium should acknowledge the 
supremacy of Rome. The same soon afterwards became the fate 
of the Umbrians, Etruscans^ and the Celtic tribes of the Senones 



TARENTUM. 318 

and Boians. Numerous colonies were established to secure the sub- 
mission of these countries, and Rome, having now acquired the 
dominion of all central Italy, enjoyed a few years of peace. 

7. Notwithstanding a few occasional attempts of the patricians 
to deprive the plebeians of the rights guaranteed to them by solemn 
laws, the two orders were placed upon a complete footing of equality 
during the period of the first and second Samnite wars. In b. c. 
312, the censor Appius Claudius made the famous Appian road 
from Rome to Capua (which was afterwards continued to Brundi- 
sium), and the first aqueduct which supplied the city of Rome with 
water. In the same year a calendar was set up in public for the 
convenience of the people, that they might know on what days it 
was lawful to meet in the assembly and administer justice. A eon- 
stitutional change appears to have been made about the same time, 
in consequence of which the comitia centuriata were engrafted upon 
the comitia tributa, though the latter still continued to be convened 
separately as before. The last great change, by which the equali- 
sation of the two orders was completed, was effected by the Ogul- 
nian law, B. C. 300, by which the number of pontiffs and augurs 
was increased, and at the same time it was enacted that one-half 
of these priestly colleges should be filled with plebeians. All public 
offices with which political power was connected, were now equally 
divided between patricians and plebeians, and the differences be- 
tween the two estates were soon so far forgotten, that the question 
as to whether a man was a patrician or a plebeian was entirely lost 
sight of. The Licinian agrarian law, however, appears to have been 
constantly violated with impunity. The distribution of the public 
land among the poor citizens, though not absolutely refused, was 
but rarely resorted to ; and the long wars carried on at a great dis- 
tance from home continued to reduce to poverty many who shed 
their blood for their country. But notwithstanding these drawbacks, 
Rome was now enjoying, in some measure, the blessings of the 
legislation of Licinius, and the period of the Samnite wars may be 
regarded as the beginning of the golden age of Roman history. 

8. The peace which Rome enjoyed after the termination of the 
third Samnite war was interrupted only by fresh attacks of the 
Gauls and Etruscans, who are said to have been stirred uj) by the 
Tarentines. This war, beginning in B. c. 285, ended in the total 
subjugation of the Senones and Boii in B. C. 282; but that against 
the Etruscans lasted for two years longer, when the Romans, on 
account of a defeat they sustained in southern Italy, granted them 
a most favourable peace. After this, the Etruscans made no furthei 
attempts to recover their independence, and seemed to have enjoyed 
a high degree of prosperity under the supremacy of Rome. 

9. Tarentum, a colony of Sparta, which had been founded in B. o 
708, and had attained a very considerable degree of prosperity as a 

27 



314 HISTORY OF ROME. 

commercial and manufacturiu^ city, was Idokiug with alarm upon . 
tlic spread of the power of the Romans in southern Italy ; but being 
unwilling itself to engage in a contest with Rome, it stirred up the 
other nations of southern Italy to combine against their common 
enemy. Tliis scheme succeeded so far as to induce even the Sam- 
nites to join the coalition in the hope of recovering their former 
independence. The first act of hostility consisted in the Lucanians 
besieging Thurii, but C Fabricius, after great difficulties, suc- 
ceeded, B. c. 282, in relieving the place and gaining several victories 
over the allies. The necessity of communicating with Thurii by 
sea led the Romans to violate the treaty subsisting between them 
and the Tarentines, and ten Roman ships steered towards the har- 
bour of Tarentum. The Tarentines immediately sailed out to attack 
them; and only five Roman ships escaped. Thurii being then 
fittucked by the Tarentines was obliged to throw open its gates to 
them. Upon these proceedings the Roman senate sent an embassy 
to Tarentum to demand reparation ; but the Tarentines not only 
refused to do this, but insulted the ambassadors in a most indecent 
manner. AVar"was thus unavoidable. The Tarentines had, in the 
meantime, been joined by the Messapians ; but as their hopes of a 
general coalition of the nations of Italy against Rome were disap- 
pointed, they invited Pyrvhus of Epirus to come to their assistance. 
10. Pyrrhus, the adventurous and chivalrous king of Epirus, 
with whom we have already become acquainted,' gladly seized the 
opporfunity, in the hope of being able to establish for himself a 
great kingdom, consisting of Epirus, Magna Graecia, and Sicily. 
He arrival in Italy in B. c. 281, and immediately took possession 
of Tarentum, whose inhabitants had to submit to severe military 
discipline. In the year following, the Romans, after concluding 
peace with Etruria, sent out armies against the Samnites and Taren- 
tines. On the banks of the Siris, near Heracleia, the hostile armies 
met, and Pyrrhus, partly by means of his Macedonian phalanx, and 
partly by the terror of his elephants, with which the Romans were 
unacquainted, gained a decisive victory over the Romans, though 
they fought with the most admirable valour. In consequence of 
this victory many Italians, such as the Apulians, Locrians, and 
many separate towns, openly joined Pyrrhus. Rut as be himself 
had sustained great losses in the battle, he sent his friend Cineas to 
Rome to off'er peace. The senate, however, refused to listen to any 
proposals until the king should consent to quit Italy. Pyrrhus then 
advanced to the very neighbourhood of Rome, but finding that 
peace had been concluded with Etruria, he returned to Tarentum. 
In the year B. c. 279, the Roman consuls met the enemy again in 
the neighbourhood of Aseulum. where Pyrrhus gained another 
hand-wou victory. Notwithstanding this, however, he seems to 

' P. 258, &c. 



PYRRHUS. 315 

have despaired of success, and in speaking of the Romans is reported 
to have s;iid, " with such soldiers the world would be mine," while 
he described his own victory by saying, " one more such victory, 
and I shall be ruined." 

11. After these disasters the Romnn senate felt inclined to come 
to some understanding with Pyrrhus; but Appius Claudius the 
Blind strenuously opposed the scheme so long as Pyrrhus refused 
to quit Italy, Pyrrhus had lust his confidence in his Italian allies, 
while the Komans filled his soul with admiration and lespect; and 
well it might be so when he compared their conduct with that of 
the degenerate Greeks, with whom ylone he had hitherto had deal- 
ings. Undc r these circumstances, he gladly availed himself of an 
invitation sent to him by the Sicilian Greeks, who hoped with his 
assistance to drive the Carthaginians out of the island. A truce 
seems to have been concluded with Ptome in b. c. 278, and Pyrrhus 
sailed over into Sicily. But he found his Sicilian allies even worse 
than those in Italy; their faithless and treacherous disposition 
thwarted nearly all his undertakings, though, if they had followed 
and obeyed him, he would, no doubt, have rescued Sicily from the 
bauds of the Carthuginians. After a stay of three years in the 
island, he returned to Italy at the urgent request of his Italian 
allies, who were hard pressed by the Romans. During his absence 
the latter had punished their revolted allies or subjects, and victo- 
ries had been gained over the Lucanians, Bruttians, Tarentines, 
and Samnites. Upon his arrival in Italy, Pyrrhus recovered 
some of the towns which had fallen into the hands of the Romans. 
The consul M.'Curius Dentatus was encamped near Beneventum, 
and thither Pyrrhus repaired to offer battle. But his army, now 
mainly composed of effeminate and fickle Greeks, was no longer 
what it had been in his former campaigns. He was so completely 
defeated, b. c. 275, that he escaped with only a few horsemen to 
Tarentum. Finding that his Italian allies in other quarters were 
not more successful, and that he could not expect any reinforce- 
ments from the kings of Macedonia and Syria, he at once resolved 
to quit Italy, leaving small gariisons at Tarentum and Rhegium. 
Two years after his return to Epirus, he was killed at Argos in a 
battle against Antigonus Gonatas. 

12. After the departure of Pyrrhus, the Tarentines concluded 
peace with the Romans, who now resolved to crush the inhabitants 
of southern Italy for ever; and this was accomplished in B.C. 272, 
when the Samnites, Lucanians, and Bruttians did homage to the 
majesty of the great republic; but Rhegium was not recovered till 
the year after. Rome now was the virtual mistress of all Italy, 
from the northern frontier of Etruria to the straits of Sicily. There 
was, however, one nation, which, though often conquered and 
bumbled, could not resign itself to its fate. This was the Samnites, 



316 HISTORYOFROME. 

and in b. c. 268 the fourth and last Samnite war broke out; but it 
was brought to a close in the very first campaign. The conquered 
nations of Italy were treated difierently, according to the degree 
of hostility they had shown during the war, and according to the 
manner in which they had succumbed to the Romans. All, how- 
ever, had to recognise the supremacy of Home, which as usual 
secured its dominion in the newly-conquered districts by the estab- 
lishment of colonies or military garrisons. The vanquished nations 
lost the right of carrying on war on their own account, and of con- 
cluding treaties with foreign nations. The ships of the maritime 
cities enabled the Komans, in case of need, to form a fleet against any 
transmarine enemy with whom they might come in contact. At 
this time the fame of Rome's conquests had reached the ears of the 
princes in the distant East, and Ptolemy Philadelphus of Egypt, 
in B. C. 273, sent an embassy to conclude a treaty of friendship, 
which was willingly granted. Rome had now become one of the 
states of the first rank in ancient history, and well would it have 
been for her, had circumstances allowed her to limit herself to 
Italy, and develop a system of free institutions over the peninsula, 
so as to unite the whole in one compact state. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CARTHAGE AND SICILY. 

1. Carthage, a colony of Tyre, on the north coast of Africa, is 
said to have been founded by Dido, a Tyrian princess, about the 
year B. c. 814. Its inhabitants therefore belonged to the Phoe- 
nicians, a branch of the Semitic race. Carthage was not the only 
Phoenician colony on that coast, nor even the most ancient, for 
Utica and Tunis boasted a much higher antiquity; but Carthage 
soon rose to great power and prosperity, in consequence partly of 
its favourable situation, and partly of the decline of the commercial 
greatness of the mother city. From these and other circumstances, 
it exercised a sort of supremacy over the other Phoenician settle- 
ments on the same coast, though formally their independence was 
always recognised, and Utica in particular remained an independent 
political community down to the latest times. For a long period, 
down to the reign of Darius Hystaspis, the Carthaginians had to 
pay a tribute to the Libyans, that is, the natives among whom they 
had established themselves. But in the course of time they not 
only ceased to pay this tribute, but reduced the Libyans to com- 



CARTHAGINIANS IN SICILY. 317 

plete subjection. These were then treated by their new masters 
with cruel avarice ; they had to till the land for them, and furnish 
them with armies, for the Carthaginian soldiers mentioned in history 
are always either Libyans or mercenaries, the purse-proud mer- 
chants of Carthage disdaining to serve their country in person. In 
the country round Carthage, the mixture of the Phoenician settlers 
with the native Libyans produced a race called the Libyphoenicians, 
who seem to have occupied and cultivated the rich lands about 
Carthage and the valley of the river Bagradas. The territor}' which 
the Carthaginian state acquired probably never reached further 
south than lake Triton, or further west than Hippo Regius. Its 
influence, however, was extended both in the west and in the east 
by a large number of colonies or factories, for they were all estab- 
lished for commercial purposes. Hence Carthage exercised her 
authority over the north coast of Africa, more or less, from the 
pillars of Hercules to the head of the great Syrtis. 

2. The character of the Carthaginians as a commercial nation 
obliged them to make themselves masters of the islands nearest to 
Africa. About the middle of the sixth century b. c, Malchus, a 
Carthaginian general who had distinguished himself in the wars in 
Africa, is said to have undertaken a successful expedition against 
Sicily J but an attempt upon Sardinia failed, in consequence of 
which he was punished with exile. Instead of submitting to his 
fate, he proceeded with his army against Carthage, and made him- 
self master of it. In the end, however, he was put to death, be- 
cause he was accused of aiming at regal power. The work of con- 
quest begun by him was continued by Mago, who also gave a bettor 
organisation to the military resources of his country. Shortly after 
this, the refusal to pay the customary tribute to the Libyans led to 
a war with them, in which Carthage was defeated, and had to purchase 
peace. The conquests in Sardinia and Sicily, however, were con- 
tinued, and Sardinia became the first foreign province of Carthage, 
a condition in which that island appears as early as the first year 
of the Roman republic. Corsica was likewise occupied by them at 
an early period, though its possession was disputed for a long time 
by the Tyrrhenians. 

3. Sicily, to which the attention of the Carthaginians was directed 
from the very first, was never entirely conquered by them. The 
island was inhabited by two peoples, the Sicani and Siceli, and its 
southern and eastern coasts were occupied by Greek colonists, called 
Siceliotae, whose steaiiy advance displaced several of the Phoe- 
nician settlements, which had existed there from early times, until 
the Phoenicians retained their footing only on the western coast. 
These Phoenician coloni'.s were first taken possession of by the 
Carthaginians, who with this firm footing in the island, endeavoured 
to extend their empire there by fomenting dissensions among the 

97 * 



318 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Greelis until they were prepared to strike a great blow. Even 
before the invasion of Greece by the Persians, they had been 
involved in war with Gelo, the tyrant of Syracuse ; and when they 
found that the Greeks of the mother country were fully engaged 
against the Persians, who may even have urged on the Cartha- 
ginians, they resolved to make a great effort against the Sicilian 
Greeks. An opportunity easily presented itself, and the Cartha- 
ginians, to support their friend Terillus, the exiled tyrant of 
Ilimera, invaded the island in B. c. 480 with a fleet of three thou- 
sand ships, and an army of three hundred thousand men, which 
was commanded by Hamilcar. But this grand armament was 
utterly defeated and its commander slain, it is said, on the very 
day on which the Greeks of the mother country fought the glorious 
battle of Salamis. The loss of this battle at once decided the fate 
of the Carthaginians in Sicily; they were driven back to their 
ancient positions in the west of the island, and, for a time at least, 
seem to have given up all thoughts of extending their dominion in 
Sicily, for no fresh attempts were made until the year b. c. 410, 
from which time they continued their wars with the Sicilian Greeks, 
until the Romans interfered in the contest. 

4. Among the other foreign possessions of Carthage, we may 
notice the Balearic islands, and parts of the south and west coast 
of Spain. The first time that Carthage had any dealings with 
Piome was the year after the expulsion of the Tarquins, B, c. 509, 
when the two republics concluded a commercial treaty, which is 
preserved in Polybius, and is of extreme importance in determining 
the relations then subsisting between Piome and Carthage. In a 
second treaty of a similar nature, concluded in B. C. 348, the Roman 
merchants were excluded from Corsica and Libya. During this 
period, the relations between Rome and Carthage were of an 
amicable nature, as is attested by several occurrences, and also by 
the fact, that in B. c. 306 the ancient treaty was renewed. But 
the progress made by the Romans in southern Italy aroused jealousy 
and alarm in the minds of the Carthaginians ; during the war against 
Pyrrhus, however, in B. C. 279, Carthage and Rome, being drawn 
together by the same interests, concluded a defensive alliance, which 
was directed against Pyrrhus, their common enemy. In eonse- 
quence of this, a Carthaginian fleet of one hundred sail appeared at 
Ostia to assist the Romans, but it was dismissed with thanks, with- 
out being used. The fears entertained by Carthage in regard to 
Pyrrhus were realised by his crossing over into Sicily with the 
avowed purpose of driving the Carthaginians from it. But owing 
to the miserable conduct of his Greek allies, he was obliged to give 
up his enterprise. Throughout the war against Pyrrhus, both in 
Italy and Sicily, each of the two republics fought without being 
assisted by the other, which probably arose from mistrust which 



SYRACUSE. 319 

they had conceived of each other after the conclusion of the last 
treaty, and the march of events soon brought them into violent 
collision. 

5. The political constitution of Carthage was strictly oligarchical, 
and a few wealthy, ancient, and powerful families divided among 
themselves all the power and all the great offices of the state. The 
executive was in the hands of two chief magistrates called suffetes 
or judges, who appear to have been elected annually. We also 
hear of a senate of three hundred members, forming a sort of great 
council, out of which several smaller bodies or committees were 
chosen. The assembled people were sometimes consulted in cases 
where the suffistes and the council could not agree ; but this popular 
assembly appears otherwise to have had little power, the wealthy 
families generally having everything their own way, for money 
seems to have been all-powerful at Carthage. The arts and 
sciences were cultivated only so far as they contributed to the 
comforts of life, or afforded the means of acquiring wealth. The 
religion of the Carthaginians was the same as that of the Phoe- 
nicians, and was occasionally stained by the ofiering of human 
sacrifices to their gods. 

6. The most powerful among the Greek colonies in Sicily was 
Syracuse, and it was chiefly this city that had from the first dis- 
puted the sovereignty of the island with Carthage. Civil dissen- 
sions induced and enabled enterprising men at an early period to 
set themselves up as tyrants of Syracuse. After the great victory 
of Gelo over the Carthaginians at Iliniera, in B. c. 480, Sicily for 
a time was not again invaded by the Carthaginians, but about a 
century later the elder Dionysius, who was tyrant of Syracuse from 
B. C. 405 to 368, had to purchase peace from Carthage by giving 
up Agrigentum and other Greek towns. The Corinthian hero 
Timoleon afterwards, having delivered Syracuse from the tyranny 
of the younger Dionysius (who ruled from b. c 368 to 345), for a 
time checked the encroachments of the Carthaginians ; but under 
Agathocles, who had raised himself from the lowest rank to that 
of tyrant of Syracuse, B. C. 317, the hostilities recommenced, and 
continued with such varying success, that at one and the same 
time, B. C. 310, Carthage was besieged by the army of Agathocles, 
and Syracuse by that of the Carthaginians ; for as the Carthaginians 
who had been invited by the enemies of Agathocles were carrying 
on their siege operations somewhat carelessly, he seized a favourable 
moment, and sailed through the midst of the enemy's fleet to 
Carthage. After having landed on the coast, he ordered his fleet 
to be burnt, that his soldiers might have no choice between victory 
or death, and in a short time made himself, by his desperate cour- 
age, master of the whole territory of Carthage. The Carthaginian 
general Hamilcar in the meantime was defeated at Syracuse, and 



320 HISTORY OF ROME. 

died in captivity. Agathocles then, with brilliant promises, invited 
Ophelias, the governor of Cyrene, to come to his assistance, B. 0. 
308. But when he arrived with an army of twenty thousand men, 
the cunning Syracusan, alleging that the Cyrenean was meditating 
treason, unexpectedly attacked and slew him, and then compelled 
his men to enter into his own service. In the height of his pride 
he fancied himself already master of the whole of northern Africa, 
and assumed the title of king. But matters soon assumed a differ- 
ent aspect, for being defeated in a battle by the Carthaginians, he 
secretly made his escape to Sicily to secure his position at Syracuse, 
leaving his army to perish in a foreign land. The soldiers, enraged 
at such conduct, murdered the son of the tyrant, who had been 
left behind, and then entered the service of Carthage. By mur- 
ders and acts of the most wanton cruelty, Agathocles now endea- 
voured to establish himself securely at Syracuse, and extended his 
dominion over the greater part of the island ; but in the end a slow 
poison was administered to him, which induced him to order himself 
to be burned. He had been tyrant of Syracuse from B. c. 317 to 289. 
7. After the death of this bold but unscrupulous adventurer, 
the whole island fell into a state of the wildest anarchy. His 
Campanian mercenaries, called IMamertines, on their ret.urn home 
took forcible possession of the town of Messene or Messana, B. c. 
281; they murdered or expelled the male population, and then 
distributed their property as well as their wives and children among 
themselves. From Messana, they made predatory excursions in all 
directions, and thereby produced in the island a feeling of uneasiness 
and insecurity, which the Carthaginians were not slow to turn to 
their own advantage. Pyrrhus was invited from Italy to assist the 
Sicilian Greeks against both the Carthaginians and Mamertines. 
He went across, as we have seen,' but the Sicilian Greeks, who 
probably knew that he was really aiming at making himself master 
of the island, behaved towatds him in such a manner, that after a 
stay of three years he was glad to return to Italy. The island now 
fell again into its former state of anarchy, and the JMamertines, like a 
horde of robbers, ransacked the country, and secured their plunder 
behind the strong walls of Messana. At this time, B. c. 275, the 
Syracusans elected Hiero, a descendant of Gelo, as their general, 
and five years later he obtained the title of king. With a strong 
army he marched against Messana, defeated the Mamertines, and 
by besieging the town reduced them to such straits, that tliey were 
obliged to look about for foreign assistance. Some were of opinion 
that they should throw themselves into the arms of the Cartha- 
ginians, who, from hatred of Hiero and the Syracusans, had already 
oftered their assistance, and soon after took possession of the 
acropolis of Messana; but the majority resolved to invoke the aid 
of the Romans. 

' P. 314. 



THE FIRST PUNIC WAR. 321 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE FIRST PUNIC WAR, DOWN TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE 

SECOND. 

1. At the time when the Mamertines solicited the assistance of 
Rome, scarcely six years had elapsed since the Romans had inflicted 
the severest punishment upon a body of Campanians who had acted 
at Rhegium in the same manner as the Mamertines had done at 
Messana. The Roman senate, or at least the better part of it, felt 
that common decency forbade their entertaining the proposal; and 
accordingly referred it to the assembly of the people, with whom the 
love of war and conquest seems, at that time at least, to have stifled 
every other feeling. An alliance with the Mamertines was con- 
cluded in B. C. 264. As the Carthaginians were in possession of 
the citadel, Hiero, finding that he could effect nothing against the 
town, concluded peace with the Mamertines. This cut off at once 
every pretext for Roman interference ; but the opportunity of com- 
mencing war against the Carthaginians was too tempting, and a 
fleet, furnished by the Greek maritime towns, and an army, at once 
assembled at Rhegium. A proclamation was sent to Messana, to 
announce to the Mamertines that the Romans were ready to deliver 
them from the yoke of the Carthaginians. The fleet then sailed 
across, and the Carthaginian general was treacherously induced to 
surrender the citadel of Messana to the Romans. The Carthaginians 
demanded of the Romans to quit Sicily, and as this was disregarded, 
a fresh army, in conjunction with king Hiero, laid siege to Mes- 
sana. The consul Appius Claudius, who had in the meantime come 
across with his legions, defeated Hiero before his allies could coine 
to his assistance. Hiero retreated to Syracuse, and the Cartha- 
ginians, being likewise defeated, dispersed among their subject 
towns in the island. In the year after, B. c. 263, Hiero and his 
Syracusans, tired of the war, concluded peace with Rome, and re- 
mained her most faithful allies for many years. 

2 In the meantime, other Roman armies had landed in Sicily, 
and sixty-seven towns are said to have surrendered to them. The 
Carthaginians did not make their appearance in the field, and the 
conquest of the island at that time seemed a matter of no great 
difficulty. In B. c. 262, the Romans besieged Agrigentum, which 
was held by a numerous garrison of the Carthaginians. After a 
siege of seven months, the city was compelled to surrender ; the 
garrison escaped, but the place experienced all the horrors of a 
town conquered by the sword. As Carthage was mistress of the 
sea, the Roman senate ordered a fleet to be built in all ha»ste, 



322 HISTORY OF ROME. 

after the model of a Carthaginian quinquereme which had been 
thrown on the coast of Bruttiura. In B. c. 260, C. Duilius under- 
took the command of the fleet, and in the ensuing engagement with 
the Carthaginians off Mylae, he changed, by means of boarding 
bridges, the naval battle into a land fight. This was the first battle 
fought by the Romans at sea, and their victory was so complete, 
that the enemy, after a loss of about ten thousand in killed and 
wounded, took to flight. The grateful Romans honoured their ad- 
miral with a column, adorned with the beaks of the captured ships 
(colnmna rostrata), and with an inscription recording the details 
of his victory. After this success, the Romans were so emboldened 
that they resolved to drive the Carthaginians from all their insular 
possessions, and expeditions were undertaken at the same time 
against Sardinia and Corsica. The operations in Sicily were in the 
meantime carried on with less vigour, and the Carthaginians gained 
some advantages; but the ascendancy of the Romans was restored 
in B. c. 258 by the consul Atilius Calatinus. Myttistratum, which 
had been besieged by the Romans for some time, was abandoned 
by the Carthaginian garrison, and fell into the hands of the Ro- 
mans. Camarina and many other towns were either taken or sur- 
rendered. 

3. But notwithstanding these and other successful enterprises, 
one half of Sicily was still in the hands of the Carthaginians, and 
the Romans had only recovered what they had previously lost. In 
B. c. 256, however, the Romans made immense exertions, and a 
large fleet of three hundred and thirty sail was got ready, intended 
to cross over into Africa under the command of the consuls L. 
Manlius and M. Atilius Regulus. But the fleet was met by a 
larger one of the Carthaginians near Ecnomus, and a decisive and 
destructive battle ensued, in which the Carthaginians were com- 
pletely defeated. Offers of peace on the part of the Carthaginians 
were rejected, and the Roman fleet sailed to Africa. It landed 
near Clupea, and as the place was found deserted by its inhabitants, 
the Romans made it their head quarters, and in all directions 
ravaged the country, which was cultivated like a garden and 
studded with factories and country houses of the wealthy. At the 
close of the year Manlius returned to Italy with a portion of the 
forces and avast number of prisoners. Regulus, remaining behind 
with his diminished force;;, began the campaign of B. c. 255 by 
laying siege to the town of Adis. But owing to the inexperience 
of the enemy, Regulus, it is said, had the satisfaction of seeing a 
large number of towns submitting to him. The Carthaginians were 
so much reduced as to be obliged to seek shelter behind the walls 
of their own city. In this distress they sent to Regulus to sue for 
peace ; but he, who might now have concluded the war in an hon- 
ourable manner, proposed such humiliating terms, that the Cartha- 



FIRST PUNIC WAR. 823 

ginians could not accept them, and resolved to perish sword in hand 
rather than submit to the insolence of their enemy. 

4. This would probably have been the result in a short time, had 
the Carthaginians not availed themselves of the services of the able 
Spartan Xanthippus, to whom they entrusted the supreme command 
of their forces. He increased the army, and by an improved dis- 
cipline revived the spirit and confidence of the soldiers. When 
the army was sufficiently trained, he marched out to meet Regulus, 
and in the battle that ensued the whole Roman army was routed 
and dispersed. Eegulus himself was taken prisoner with five hun- 
dred men, and only two thousand escaped to Clupea. The Roman 
consuls immediately sailed to Africa with a large fleet to rescue the 
men at Clupea, who defended themselves bravely; near cape 
Hermaeum it was attacked by the Carthaginians, but gained a 
brilliant victory over them, and continued its course to Clupea, 
where the Carthaginians were again defeated, and the two thousand 
Romans taken on board. But on its return to Sicily, the fleet was 
overtaken by a storm, during which most of the ships perished, all 
the coast from Camarina to Pachynus being covered with wrecks 
and corpses. The Carthaginians emboldened by their own success 
and the reverses of their enemies, re-commenced their operations 
in Sicily and made new conquests. The news of the destruction 
of the fleet, however, acted upon the Romans only as an incentive 
to greater exertions, and in B. C. 254, a new armada of two hundred 
and twenty ships sailed to Sicily, and took Panormus. This con- 
quest was followed by the surrender of several towns which until 
then had been faithful to Carthage. As the progress of the Romans 
vas slow, the fleet in b. C. 252 once more sailed to Africa, and laid 
waste its coast districts. But the dangers of the Syrtes induced 
the Romans to return, and when the fleet came within sight of cape 
Palinurus, a storm burst forth in which one hundred and fifty 
ships were wrecked. This second great disaster at sea discouraged 
the Romans, and it was resolved not to restore the fleet beyond what 
was necessary to protect Italy and convey troops to Sicily. 

5. During the following years the Romans nevertheless continued 
to make progress ; they confined the Carthaginians to the western 
corner of the island, and in B. c. 250 the consul Caecilius defeated 
them in a great battle in the neighborhood of Panormus. This 
was the third great battle fought during the whole period of the 
war, and it was at the same time the last. The Carthaginians had 
now lost all the towns in Sicily with the exception of the fortresses 
of Lilybaeum and Drepana, and anxious to obtain peace or at least 
an exchange of prisoners, they are said to have sent Regulus, who 
was still in captivity, to Rome, to prevail on his countrymen to 
grant either one or the other. But Regulus persuaded the Roman 
senate to enter into no negotiations and to continue the war. A 



324 HISTORY OF ROME. 

new fleet of two hundred sail was built, and tlie Piomans began to 
besiege Lilybaeum, which was very strongly fortified. The siege 
lasted for a long time, until at length the llomans confined them- ] 
selves to blockading the place. In B. c. 249 the fool-hardy and 
haughty Appius Claudius, who had gone to Sicily with a supplemen- 
tary army, was defeated near Drepana both by land and by sea. This 
disaster of their enemy gave fresh courage to the Carthaginians, 
who followed up their victory with great vigour. But still more 
serious misfortunes befel the Romans, for a vast number of trans- 
ports were destroyed during a storm, and their remaining ships of 
war were captured or sunk by the enemy. These things led them, 
a second time to renounce the sea, of which the Carthaginians were 
now the undisputed masters. But their resources were exhausted, 
and their attempt to raise money by a loan was unsuccessful. In 
these circumstances, the great Hamilcar, the father of Hannibal, 
undertook the command of the forces in Sicily, B. C. 247. He 
first made some predatory descents upon the coasts of Italy, and on 
his return took up a strong position on mount Hercte, where for a 
pei'iod of three years he watched the proceedings of the Romans, 
and did them incalculable injury by his sallies. Afterwards he 
took up a similar position on mount Eryx, where he was besieged 
by the Romans, but continued to harass them as before, although 
he was surrounded by great difiiculties and had only mercanaries 
for his soldiers. 

6. In this manner the war was protracted without anything 
decisive being efiected by either party. The Romans at length, 
seeing that it could not be brought to a close without some great 
efi"ort, resolved, in B. c. 242, to build another fleet. The funds 
were contributed by wealthy and patriotic citizens, and an armament 
of two hundred ships commanded by C. Lutatius Catulus, was soon 
under sail. He first made an attack upon Drepana, but being un- 
successful, resolved at once to oifer battle to the Carthaginian fleet, 
which contained a large number of transports. The victory of the 
Romans was easy and complete; sixty-three of the enemy's ships 
were taken, one hundred and twenty were sunk, and the number 
of the slain and prisoners was immense. This great victory was 
gained in B. C. 241 off" the iEgatian islands, and Eryx soon after 
fell into the hands of the Romans. The Carthaginians now sued 
for peace, which was granted on condition of their evacuating Sicily 
and the islands between it and Carthage, abstaining from war against 
Hiero and his allies, restoring the Roman prisoners without ransom, 
and paying two thousand three hundred talents in ten yearly instal- 
ments. 

7. The first Punic war, which had lasted twenty-three years, and 
had been carried on with incredible efforts and losses on both sides, 
was now terminated, and in Sicily Rome made her first foreign 



THE ROMANS ACQUIRE SARDINIA. 325 

conquest. Sicily, as a country out of Italy, on coming into the 
hands of the Romans received a constitution different from that of 
the conquered countries of Italy — it became a province, that is, a 
country governed by a Roman praetor or proconsul, who was sent 
out every year with supreme civil and military power, and was 
assisted by a quaestor or treasurer. The revenues derived from a 
province by the Roman republic were of various kinds, such as 
taxes consisting of a tithe of all the produce of the soil, and the 
rent of the public or domain land. These revenues (^vert it/alia) 
were not levied by officers of the government, but were farmed by 
wealthy individuals (^puhllcani^ or companies of them. All the 
towns of a province, moreover, were not in the same relation to 
Rome, their condition generally depending on the manner in which 
they had behaved during the war preceding the conquest. In 
Sicily, for example, the little kingdom of Hiero and several other 
places remained perfectly free and independent. It was a maxim 
with the Romans that provincials should serve Rome only with 
money, and not with soldiers, whence they were not allowed to 
enlist in the Roman armies. It is a remarkable fact, that during 
the long period of the first war with Carthage, the Italian nations 
remained quiet, and did not attempt to shake off the yoke of Rome 
— a proof of the moderation with which she treated them. 

8. AVhen the Carthaginians evacuated Sicily and their mercena- 
ries returned to Africa, the government was unable to give them 
the pay that was due to them. They accordingly rose in arms 
against their employers, B. C. 241, and were urged on by Italian 
deserters who were afraid of being delivered up to the Romans. 
This war between Carthage and her mercenaries was carried on 
with the utmost cruelty by both parties, and Carthage itself was 
brought to the brink of destruction, the whole of the surrounding 
country being at times in the hands of its enemies, for the insur- 
gents were joined by the Libyans and even by other Phoenician 
colonies on the coast. The great Hamilcar at length, after the war 
had raged upwards of three years, succeeded in putting an end to 
it, B. C. 238. The fact that Carthage was enabled to crush the 
rebellious mercenaries, was partly owing to the generous conduct 
of the Romans, who not only refused to aid the rebels, but pro- 
tected the transports destined for Carthage. During this African 
war, the mercenaries in Sardinia likewise revolted ; but the natives 
drove them from the island. The mercenaries then threw them- 
selves into the arms of the Romans, who gladly availed themselves 
of the opportunity of seizing the island, in B. c. 238. When Car- 
thage remonstrated with them for this act of aggression, the Romans 
treated them as if they were the offenders, and not only took pos- 
session of Sardinia and Corsica, but demanded of Carthage the 
additional sum of twelve hundred talents. The African republic 
28 



326 HISTORYOFROME. 

being ia too exhausted a condition to offer any resistance, was 
obliged to yield ; but its indignation and revenge were treasured 
up for a more convenient time ; and Carthage, under the guidance 
of Ilamilcar, at once began to make preparations to indemnify 
herself in another quarter for what she had lost. 

9. The Romans had indeed gained possession of the islands of 
Sardinia and Corsica, but they had to carry on a long and tedious 
war with the natives, who were less patient of the Roman yoke than 
they had been of the Carthaginian. About the same time, the 
Romans were involved in an equally tedious war with the Ligurians 
and Boians, and while these wars were still going on, another 
struggle was commenced in B. C. 229, against the semi-barbarous 
pirates of Illyricum, who were then governed by a queen Teuta, 
and did great injury to the maritime cities of Greece. The barba- 
rians were easily conquered, and the Greek towns which had 
formerly been plundered by the Illyrians, such as Corcyra, Epidam- 
nus (Dyrrhachium), Apollonia, placed themselves under the protec- 
tion of Rome. In this manner the Romans gained a footing on the 
eastern coast of the Adriatic, and a certain influence upon the affairs 
of Greece ; that influence, however, was beneflcial, for the Illyrians 
were humbled and obliged to give up their piracy. At the same 
time Corinth and Athens conferred certain marks of honourable 
distinction upon the Romans. 

10. But all these were trifling compared with that which now 
burst upon the Romans. In B. c. 229, C. Flaminius, by an agra- 
rian law, had distributed the lands on the north-east of the Appe- 
nines, which had been taken from the Gauls. For some years the 
Boians had been strengthening themselves by alliances with other 
Celtic tribes in the north of Italy, and even beyond the Alps. In 
B. c. 226, swarms of Celts came across the Alps, and as their 
formidable hosts moved southward, the Romans were seized with 
the greatest alarm. The Gauls, devastating everything by fire and 
sword, advanced as far as Clusium in Etruria. There the Roman 
army met them, determined to rescue Italy from their devastations. 
At first the Romans were nearly surrounded and annihilated, but in 
the neighbourhood of Telamon, on the coast of Etruria, they gained 
a decisive victory, the Gauls losing forty thousand in killed and ten 
thousand in prisonei-s. This memorable battle was fought in B. c. 
225, and the year after the Romans compelled the Boians to submit, 
and for the first time crossed the river Po, where, in B. C. 223, the 
consul C. Flaminius gained a great victory over the Insubrians. In 
the year following, the war against the Gauls was brought to a close 
by M. Claudius Marcellus in the battle of Clastidium, where he slew 
the Gallic chief Viridomarus with his own hand. In the peace which 
was then concluded, the Gauls recognised the supremacy of Rome, 
which thus became the mistress of the wide plains of Lombardy, 



CAKTHAQINTANS IN SPAIN. 827 

known by the ancient name of Gallia Cisalpina ; and she secured 
these conquests by the establishment of the colonies of Cremona 
and Plucentia. 

11. In the meantime, the Illyrians, and especially the Illyrian 
prince, Demetrius of Pharos, had renewed their piratical practices ; 
but they were eifectually put an end to, in B. C. 219, by the consul 
L. ^milius Paulus, who subdued the whole of lUyricum; but 
Demetrius escaped to the court of Philip of Macedonia, whose 
attention had no doubt already been attracted by the progress made 
by the Romans on the east of the Adriatic. 

12. After the loss of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, the Cartha- 
ginians, guided by the wise counsels of Hamilcar, had endeavoured 
to indemnify themselves by making conquests and establishing a 
new empire in Spain. That country was inhabited by Iberians and 
Celts, who lived partly in separate districts, and partly mixed 
together under the name of Celtiberians. In some of the coast 
districts the Phoenicians and Greeks had already formed settle- 
ments. By a wise moderation and kind treatment, Hamilcar suc- 
ceeded in attaching the natives to himself, though he neglected no 
precaution to insure their permanent fidelity. In B. c. 229, he fell 
in a bloody battle against the natives, leaving the command to his 
son-in-law liasdrubal, who successfully pursued the same policy as 
his predecessor, and founded the town of New Carthage (Cartha- 
gena). The Romans, somewhat alarmed at the progress made by 
the Carthaginians in Spain, concluded a treaty with Hasdrubal, in 
which it was stipulated that they should not carry their conquests 
beyond the river Iberus. In B. c. 221, Hasdrubal was assassinated 
and succeeded by the great Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar, who 
had accompanied his father to Spain at the age of nine years, and 
had grown up in the camp under the eyes of his illustrious father, 
and in the midst of the greatest hardships. 

13. Hannibal is one of the greatest generals of all ages and 
countries, and ought not to be judged of by the partial and preju- 
diced account which Livy gives of him. Immediately after his 
accession, he engaged in war with some tribes, and succeeded in 
conquering Spain as far as the Iberus, except the town of Sagun- 
tum, which is said to have been allied with the Romans. Availing 
himself of some dispute between it and a neighbouring tribe, he at 
once proceeded in B. C. 219, to lay siege to the town. Roman 
ambassadors in vain called on him to abstain from hostilities; he 
referred them to the senate at Carthage. Q. Fabius, the spokesman 
of the embassy, met with no better success at Carthage, for although 
the aristocratic party, headed by Hanno, was thoroughly opposed 
to a war with Rome, the friends of Hannibal aod the popular party 
refused to take their victorious general to account, or to recall him. 
Fabius, at length, making a fold of his toga, said, " Here I bring 



328 HISTORY OF ROME. 

you peace and war; take whichever you please." When the 
answer was, '^ Give us whichever you please," he, unfolding his 
toga, replied, " Well, then, I offer you war." War was thus 
declared. The inhabitants of Saguntura maintained themselves 
with the greatest fortitude against the besiegers, but after eight 
months of a most heroic defence, the town was taken and reduced 
to a heap of ruins. The inhabitants were partly buried under the 
ruins of their houses, and partly killed themselves by rushing into 
the fire which they had kindled in the market-place to destroy their 
remaining property ; the survivors were put to the sword. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SECOND PUNIC WAR, THE FIRST AND SECOND MACEDONIAN 
WARS, AND THE WAR AGAINST ANTIOCHUS. 

1. At the time when war was declared against Carthage, the 
Romans were still engaged in Illyricum, and the war against the 
Gauls had only just been brought to a close, whence we cannot be 
much surprised at finding that they did not at once act with the 
energy and quickness which they usually manifested on such occa- 
sions. Hannibal, on the other hand, assembling his troops at New 
Carthage, intrusted the supreme command in Spain to his brother 
Hasdrubal, while he himself, in the beginning of the summer of 
B. c. 218, crossed the Iberus with an army of ninety thousand foot, 
twelve thousand horse, and thirty-seven elephants ; but before 
crossing the Pyrenees, he allowed all those who were unwilling to 
accompany him on his gigantic expedition, to return. By this 
means his forces were reduced to fifty thousand foot, and nine 
thousand horse. On his passage through Gaul he met with no 
opposition until he reached the river Rhone, the passage of which 
he had to force against hosts of Gauls drawn up against him on the 
sastern bank. He then began his ever memorable march across 
the Alps, by the Little St. Bernard, during which he and his army 
had to struggle with indescribable difficulties. When at length he 
arrived on the southern side of the Alps in the valley of Aosta, his 
forces were reduced to twenty thousand foot and six thousand horse ; 
but though worn out, they were all soldiers on whom the gTeat 
general could place full reliance. The passage of the Alps had 
been effected in fifteen days, and his arrival in It;ily was hailed by 
the Gauls, who implored his protection against Rome. 

2. When the Romans received intelligence of Hannibal's design 



BATTLEOP LAKE TRASIMENUS. 329 

to cross the Alps, tliey sent the consul P. Cornelius Scipio with an 
army and fleet to Gaul, and his colleague Sempronius Longus with 
another army to Sicily. Scipio arrived in Gaul when Hannibal had 
already crossed the Rhone. Without, therefore, effecting anything 
of consequence, he slowly returned to Italy, and did not arrive on 
the banks of the Po until Hannibal had already descended from the 
Alps. The hostile armies met first on the banks of the Tieinus, 
and afterwards on those of the Trebia, and in each of these engage- 
ments the Romans were defeated, and Scipio himself received a 
severe wound in that on the Tieinus. Hannibal spent the winter 
in Lombardy, and in the beginning of B. c. 217 he with incredible 
difficulty crossed the Appenines into Etruria. On the banks of 
lake Trasimenus, the consul C. Flaminius, anxious to defend the 
road to Rome, met the Carthaginian army, and on a foggy morning 
a fearful battle was fought, in which no less than fifteen thousand 
Romans perished. Flaminius himself was among the slain, and the 
rest escaped to an Etruscan village. Another detachment which 
had been sent to assist the consul was likewise cut to pieces or taken 
prisoners. Hannibal's policy from the first was by kind treatment 
of the Italians to win their attachment, and induce them to throw 
off the yoke of Rome ; but, as we shall see, hereafter, he had mis- 
calculated : the Italian allies, and more especially the Roman and 
Latin colonies throughout Italy, remained faithful. This he expe- 
rienced immediately after the battle of lake Trasimenus, for when 
he attacked Spoletium, the town offered a brave defence, and Han- 
nibal, abandoning the place, marched along the eastern coast of 
Italy, through the countries inhabited by Sabellian tribes, towards 
Apulia, in the hope of arousing the nations of southern Italy 
against their rulers. 

3. The news of the battle of Lake Trasimenus had thrown Rome 
into the greatest consternation. Q. Fabius Maximus, honourably 
surnamed the Slack (Cunctator), was immediately appointed dicta- 
tor, for it was expected that Hannibal would march straightway 
against Rome. But finding that he had taken a different road, 
Fabius followed him at every step, but cautiously avoided giving 
battle, though he endeavoured to gain every possible advantage 
when opportunity offered. Near Casilinum, the prudence of Fabius, 
and a mistake on the part of Hannibal's guide, placed the latter in 
so difficult a position, that he extricated himself only by a stratagem, 
causing bundles of wood to be fastened to the horns of two thou- 
sand oxen, which were then driven in the night with the fuggots 
blazing towards the Romans. The latter, terrified by the sight, 
quitted their favourable position, and thereby enabled the enemy to 
escape. Hannibal spent the winter in Apulia, and was greatly dis- 
appointed at finding that he was not yet joined by any of the Italian 
nations. The Romans began to be dissatisfied with the excessive 
28* 



330 HISTORY OF ROME. 

caution of Fabius, and for the year B. c. 216, appointed C. Teren- 
tius Varro, a man of a directly opposite cliaracter, to the consul- 
ship, along with L. ^milius Paulus. They were .expected to put 
an end to the war at one blow; they entered Apulia with an army 
of eighty thousand foot and six thousand horse, and pitched their 
camp near the little town of Cannae. The terrible defeat which 
the Romans sustained there at once showed them how wise had 
been the policy of Fabius. Forty-seven thousand Romans covered 
the field of battle; the consul ^railius Paulus and eighty senators 
were among the slain. Varro escaped with only a few horsemen to 
Venusia. This day of Cannae was marked in the Roman calendar 
as a day equally disastrous with that on which they had been de- 
feated by the Gauls on the Allia. 

4. But although Rome was humbled, her spirit was not broken ; 
and proposals for ransoming the prisoners, or concluding a peace, 
were indignantly rejected. Hannibal, after his victory, moved 
towards Capua, and at once reaped the fruits of his success in being 
joined by a number of Italians. Capua, next to Rome the greatest 
and wealthiest city of Italy, likewise openly declared for him, though 
its relation to Rome had been extremely favourable. He took up 
his winter quarters among his new allies at Capua, and his stay 
there forms the turning point in his career, which had hitherto 
been so glorious, and that too notwithstanding the numerous allies 
he had gained, and the reinforcements he had received from Car- 
thage. The Romans made incredible eiforts, and even enlisted a 
body of eight thousand slaves. In B. C. 215, Hannibal sustained 
considerable loss in an attack upon the fortified camp of M. Clau- 
dius Marcellus at Nola, and another great advantage was gained by 
Tib. Sempronius Gracchus near Beneventum. The confidence of 
the Romans was revived by these successes, and they now laid 
siege to Capua, which was forsaken by Hannibal, who lingered in 
Apulia and Lucania. x\t length, however, he advanced to the 
relief of Capua, but as the Romans declined a battle, he proceeded 
towards Rome, and pitched his camp near its very gates. A de- 
tachment from the besieging army at Capua was recalled, and battle 
was offered to Hannibal, but he, satisfied with having ravaged the 
country, returned to Capua which was still blockaded, and thence 
to Rhegium. 

5. In the year of the battle of Cannae, Hiero, the faithful ally 
of the Romans, had died; and his successor Hieronymus, ceasing 
to fear Rome after her defeat, negotiated with Hannibal, who 
gladly accepted the proposal of an alliance. But Hieronymus was 
murdered by his own subjects, and two usurpers, who assumed the 
supreme power, treated Rome in the same way as their predecessor. 
The consequence was, that in B.C. 214, an army under M. Claudius 
Marcellus sailed across to Sicily, and laid siege to Syracuse, which 



THE ROMANS IN SPAIN. 331 

siege continued until B. c. 212, when the Romans became masters 
of the pUice by treachery. The Syracusans, assisted by the mathe- 
matical and mechanical skill of Archimedes, defended themselves 
bravely, and for this they had to pay dearly in the cruel treatment 
they experienced at the hands of their conquerors. The greatness 
and splendour of Syracuse were destroyed for ever, and the great 
mathematician was murdered while pursuing his scientific studies. 
All Sicily now again fell into the hands of the Romans. Hannibal 
tried to make up for this loss by the conquest of Tarentum and 
some other places in southern Italy. But it was all of no avail ; 
the genius of Rome was in the ascendant, and in the year after, 
B. C. 211, Capua was taken. Its inhabitants were treated with true 
Roman cruelty, and twenty-seven senators made away with them- 
selves, while others killed their wives and children to save them 
from inhuman treatment by the Romans. Two years after this, 
B. C. 209, Tarentum was recovered by Fabius Maximus. This and 
the cruel treatment inflicted on Syracuse and Capua intimidated 
most of the Greek towns in Italy so much, that they abandoned the 
cause of Hannibal. The Carthaginian now set his only hope on the 
succours which he expected from his brother Hasdrubal in Spain. 

6. At the very beginning of the war in B. C. 218, Cn. Cornelius 
Scipio had been sent to Spain to oppose Hasdrubal, and had soon 
after been joined by his brother Publius. The two Scipios re- 
mained in Spain for a number of years, ever harassing and checking 
the Carthaginians. They not only prevented Hasdi'ubal from send- 
ing reinforcements to Ilaunibal, but even defeated him in several 
battles. At the same time they formed connections with an African 
chief Syphax, who then attacked Carthage. But in the year B. C. 
212, the two Scipios were slain in battle within thirty days of each 
other, and their armies were nearly annihilated. The Romans lost 
all their possessions in Spain on the south-east of the Iberus, and 
Hasdrubal made preparations to join his brother in Italy. At 
Rome, no one was bold enough to undertake the command of a new 
army in Spain, till young P. Cornelius Scipio, the son of P. Cor- 
nelius Scipio who had lately been slain in Spain, offered to do so, 
though he was only twenty-four years old. This young man, in 
every respect a most remarkable person, was scarcely inferior as a 
general to Hannibal himself, and afterwards gained the imperish- 
able glory of putting an end to the war. Immediately on his arrival 
in Spain, B. c. 211, things took a different turn, and in his second 
campaign, he took New Carthage, the most important possession 
of the Carthaginians. By mildness and kindness he secured the 
attachment of many of the Spanish chiefs, and his authority and 
influence became so great that he quite eclipsed Hasdrubal, who 
was defeated by him in B. c. 209, in a great battle near Baecula. 
But notwithstanding this discomfiture. Hasdrubal ventured at length 



332 HISTORYOFROME. 

to carry out his scheme of joining Hannibal in Italy. In B. c. 207, 
he arrived on the southern side of the Alps, and after some delay 
in Lorabardy, marched through eastern Italy to join his brother ia 
Apulia, but he was opposed by the consul C. Claudius Nero. 
Ilasdrubal, while attempting to cross the river Metaurus in Umbria, , 
was attacked by the Romans by night. He himself was killed, and I 
his array, unacquainted with the locality, was entirely cut to pieces 
before Hannibal even knew of his arrival, for all letters had been > 
intercepted. A Roman cut off the head of Hasdrubal, and on the 
return of the army to Apulia, flung it into the camp of Hannibal. 
This was the first intelligence which Hannibal received of his ■ 
brother's misfortune, and in it he read his own fate. 

7. After these occurrences, Hannibal confined himself to a der 
fensive attitude in the country of the Bruttians, who still remained I 
faithful to him. In this isolated and deserted condition, without 
assistance from home, and without allies in Italy, he displayed the 
greatest heroism ; he maintained himself for several years, and 
whoever attacked him had to pay dearly for it. After the depar- 
ture of Ilasdrubal from Spain, the Carthaginians still had two 
armies there; but their commanders were not able to cope with 
Scipio, who gradually drove them out of Spain, and made himself 
master of the whole of the southern part of the peninsula. Scipio 
remained in Spain for several years, partly engaged in chastising 
the rebellious tribes, and partly in organising the administration of 
the conquered country. He also renewed the connection with 
Syphax, and concluded a treaty with him. After this, he went to 
Rome, where, notwithstanding his youth, he was elected consul for 
the year b. c. 205. He had, however, many powerful enemies, and 
the cautious senate did not approve of his proposal to make a 
descent upon Africa. Sicily was assigned to him as his province, 
and he obtained permission to sail to Africa, if he thought it advan- 
tageous for the republic. The means placed at his disposal were 
very scanty, but the enthusiasm of the people in all Italy was so 
great, that he was plentifully provided with everything by their 
voluntary contributions. He established himself at Syracuse, and 
took Locri in southern Italy. 

8. When all preparations had been made, Scipio in B. c. 204 
crossed over into Africa. Syphax, from jealousy of the Numidian 
king Masinissa, had joined the Carthaginians, while Masinissa went 
over to the Romans. With his assistance Scipio, not far from 
Utica, set fire to the camp of Syphax and the Carthaginians, which 
consisted of tents made of straw and dry branches ; and great havoc 
was made among the enemies. Syphax fled to his own kingdom, 
but was pursued and taken prisoner. His wife Sophonisbe, who 
bad caused the jealousy between him and Masinissa, was now given 
to the latter ; but afterwards when Scipio, who did not trust her, 



DEFEAT OF HANNIBAL. 333 

demanded her surrender, Masinissa poisoned her. The last hope 
of Carthage now rested upon Hannibal, and a message was forth- 
with sent to summon him to return to Carthage. He obeyed the 
call without hesitation, but with a heavy heart, B. C 202. Soon 
after his arrival he bad an interview with Scipio, and both com- 
manders were willing to come to terms ; but the Carthaginian people, 
elated by the mere presence of their great general, resolved once 
more to try the fortune of arms. The battle of Zama, in B. C. 202, 
decided between the two nations. The Carthaginians fought with 
the courage of despair ; but the day was lost, and the greater part 
of their army cut to pieces. Hannibal himself escaped with only 
a few companions, and advised his countrymen to submit to neces- 
sity and accept the terms of peace offered by Scipio. Carthage 
was obliged to surrender all Roman deserters and prisoners without 
ransom, to give up its whole fleet with the exception of ten ships; 
to promise to abstain from war with foreign states without the 
sanction of Rome, to indemnify Masinissa for his losses, and to pay 
the enormous sum of ten thousand talents by fifty yearly instal- 
ments. This peace was ratified at Rome in B. c. 201 ; Scipio then 
returned to Rome in triumph, and was henceforth distinguished by 
the honourable surname of Africanus. 

9. After the peace Hannibal showed that he was not less great 
as a statesman and politician than as a general ; for he did all he 
could to heal up the wounds of his country by wise reforms in the 
administi-ation. But not only did the Romans exert their influ- 
ence to undermine his authority, but his own countrymen began to 
distrust him, so that the greatest man of his age was at last obliged 
to quit his countr}^ as an exile, B. c. 196, and seek protection at 
the court of an eastern despot, Antiochus the Great, king of Syria. 
His hatred of the Romans, however, remained as unquenchable as 
his love of his own country. The Roman republic, notwithstanding 
the fearful losses it had sustained, and notwithstanding the enormous 
devastations which Italy had experienced during the long war, 
came forth from the struggle more powerful than ever. She had 
conquered Spain, and Carthage and Numidia were virtually in a 
state of dependence on her. Their non-Italian possessions now 
obliged the Romans to keep a fleet; their name was known far and 
wide, and foreign states and princes eagerly sought their friendship 
and alliance. 

10. During the time of the second Punic war, Macedonia was 
governed by the young and talented, but faithless and licentious 
king Philip. His fears of the Romans had been already excited by 
the influence they had acquired in the east of the Adriatic after the 
Illyrian wars, and these feelings were fostered by Demetrius of 
Pharos. After the battle of Cannae, when the power of Rome 
seemed to be broken, he concluded a treaty with Hannibal, in 



334 HISTORYOPROME. 

which all the countries on the east of the Adriatic were secured toi 
Philip, while Carthage was to rule over the west. But the docu- 
ment containing the treaty fell into the hands of the Komans, who' 
at once adopted energetic measures to prevent the Macedonian kin"! 
from sending succour to Hannibal. Philip, on the other hand^' 
instead of trying to support his great ally, spout his time in uselessj 
struggles with the friends of the Romans in Asia Minor and Greece. 
A petty war was thus carried on for a period of ten years, from 
B. C. 215 to 205, during which neither party gained any great 
advantage. A peace was then concluded, in which neither the 
Ptomans nor the Macedonians had any honest intentions, for Rome' 
having to make every efibrt against the Carthaginians could not 
aiford at the same time to continue the war against Macedonia with 
vigour, and wished to postpone more active measures until the close 
of the Hannibalian war. The second war against Macedonia broke 
out in B.C. 200, because Philip had ravaged Attica, which was| 
allied with Rome. This war was first carried on with little energy) 
on the part of the Romans, and Philip, supported by the Achaean | 
league and other Greek states, was successful for a time, but when j 
T. Quinctius Flamininus in B. C. 198 undertook the command, and \ 
with extraordinary boldness attacked the enemy in his own coun- i 
try, thi-ngs assumed a different aspect. In the battle of Cynosce- 
phalae the Romans gained a complete victory over Philip, who was 
now obliged to conclude a peace, in which he recognised the inde- 
pendence of Greece, gave up a great part of his fleet, paid a large 
sum of money, and gave hostages as security for his future conduct. 
This peace was concluded in B. c. 197, and the year after Flamini- 
nus solemnly proclaimed the liberty and independence of Greece at 
the Isthmian games. 

11. The rejoicing of the Greeks knew no bounds, but it soon 
became evident that they had only made a change of masters, the 
Romans having stepped into the place of the Macedonians. The 
enthusiasm for their liberators gradually subsided, and the rude 
^tolians, being hostile to the Romans, partly because they did not 
consider themselves sufficiently rewarded for their services, and 
partly because they hated Nabis, the tyrant of Sparta, who had 
been too gently treated by the Romans, stirred up Autiochus the 
Great to a war against Rome. In this attempt they were supported 
by Hannibal, who was then staying at the king's court. The king 
himself, moreover, had been offended by the Romans, who demanded 
that he should restore the Greek states in Asia Minor to independ- 
ence, and renounce his possessions in Thrace. Accordingly, in B. c. 
192, on the invitation of the ^tolians, Antiochus crossed over into 
Europe ; but instead of following the advice of Hannibal, to ally 
himself with Philip of Macedonia and attack the Romans in Italy, 
he wasted his time in festivities and amusements in Euboea, and 



DEATH OF HANNIBAL. 335 

offended Philip, while the Romans rapidly advanced into Thessaly. 
In B. C. 191 Antiochus and the ^tolians were met at Thermopylae 
by the Romans under M. 'Acilius Glabrio, and were put to flight 
without any great struggle. The ^tolians now sued for and 
obtained pence, for the Romans were desirous to continue the war 
against Antiochus in Asia, whither he had fled after his defeat. 

12. In B. C. 190, a Roman army, under the command of C. Lae- 
]ius and L. Cornelius Scipio (who was accompanied by his brother 
P. Scipio Africanus), crossed over into Asia with an army of twenty 
thousand men. As the haughty king still refused to accept the 
terms offered by the Romans, a great battle was fought near Mag- 
nesia, at the foot of mount Sipylus, in which the hosts of the 
Syrians were unable to resist the Roman legions. After the loss 
of this battle Antiochus fled to Syria and sued for peace, which was 
gi'anted to him on condition that he should renounce all his posses- 
sions in Asia west of mount Taurus, give up all his ships of war, 
and pay a large sum of money. He was, moreover, required not to 
interfere in the affairs of the allies of Rome, and to deliver up 
Hannibal. This peace was not ratified at Rome until B. c. 188. 
The countries in Asia ceded by the Syrian king (including Galatia, 
which was conquered soon after), were, for the present, distributed 
among the allies of Rome, such as the Rhodians and Eumenes of 
Pergamus, for the time had not yet come when it was thought 
desirable to constitute them as a Roman province. Hannibal find- 
ing that his life was not safe in Syria, sought and found protection 
with Prusias, king of Bithynia; but when this prince also was 
unable to protect him against the restless persecution of the Romans, 
the unhappy Carthaginian poisoned himself B. c. 183. His con- 
queror Scipio Africanus died about the same time ; he too spent the 
last years of his life in a kind of exile, into which he had been 
driven by the envy and jealousy of his enemies, though he had in 
some measure to blame his own overbearing haughtiness. 

13. While the Romans were thus engaged in making vast con- 
quests in the East, the peace had been disturbed in the north of 
Italy by the Ligurians, Insubrians, and Boians, who commenced 
hostilities in b. c. 200, and continued them until B. c. 181. In 
the course of this war, during which many a bloody battle was 
fought, these nations were compelled to submit to Rome, and the 
Boians seem to have been completely extirpated. In Spain, too, 
the Romans were obliged to maintain their dominion sword in hand, 
for, after the departure of Scipio, the cruelty and faithlessness of 
the Romans often drove the Spaniards into rebellion and insurrec- 
tion, A great war broke out there in B. c. 181, and continued to 
rage until B. c. 179, when Tib. Sempronius Gracchus, the father 
of the two celebrated tribunes, concluded a f;iir and honourable 
peace, which was long and gratefully remembered by the Spaniards. 



336 HISTORY OF ROME. 



CHAPTER IX. 

FROM THE THIRD WAR AGAINST MACEDONIA DOWN TO THE 
TIME OF THE GRACCHI. 

1. Though Philip of Macedonia had assisted the Romans in the 
war against Antiochus, still he cherished an implacable hatred of 
them, and when in B. c. 179 he died, he bequeathed the same feel- 
ings to his successor Perseus, who, being an illegitimate son, had 
by intrigues and calumnies induced his father to put to death his 
lawful son Demetrius. No sooner had Perseus ascended the throne 
than he began to form new alliances, and make preparations for a 
conflict with Rome, for which his father had left him ample means. 
But the unwillingness he felt to part with his treasures, and his ill- 
judged measures, after some momentary advantages, brought about 
his downfall. When defeated by yEmilius Paulus at Pydna in 
B. C. 168, he fell into the hands of the Romans, and, together with 
his children, treasures, and friends, was led in triumph through the 
streets of Rome. Macedonia was now divided into four indepen- 
dent districts, with republican institutions, and made tributary to 
Rome.' By this dismemberment, the unity, and with it the 
strength of the country, was broken. 

2. Greece, too, distracted as it was by treachery, intrigues, and 
party feuds, was hastening towards its final dissolution. Shortly 
after the battle of Pydna, one thousand of the most illustrious 
Achaeans, charged with having secretly supported Perseus, were 
sent to Italy to be tried. Among them was the great historian 
Polybius. But instead of being allowed to account for their con- 
duct, they were kept as hostages and prisoners. After seventeen 
years, B. c. 151, when death had reduced their number to three 
hundred, they were permitted to return to their country. A similar 
charge was brought against the wealthy and powerful island of 
Rhodes, which, in consequence, lost its Asiatic possessions, and was 
obliged to recognize the supremacy of Rome. About nineteen years 
after the battle of Pydna, B. c. 149, Andriscus, a runaway slave, 
came forward, and, pretending to be a son of the late king Perseus, 
claimed the throne of Macedonia. Many Macedonians flocked 
around his standard, being encouraged by the outbreak of a third 
war against Carthage, in which it was hoped that Rome would be 
defeated. But the praetor Q. Caecilius Metellus crushed the pre- 
tender and his followers, in b. c. 148, in a battle near Pydna. 
Some years after this, Macedonia was constituted as a Roman 
province. 

' Compare p. 268, foil. 



SUBJUGATION OP QRE-ECE. 837 

8. Metellus was still engaged in Macedonia when the Romans 
called upon the Achaeans to dismiss Lacedaemon and several other 
cities from their confederacy ; the Achaeans assembled at Corinth 
treated the Roman ambassadors, who communicated this demand, 
with insult and violence. This act led to a war,' and in b. c. 147, 
Metellus, after settling the affairs of Macedonia, advanced south- 
ward, and defeated the Achaeans in two battles, at Thermopylae, 
and at Scarpheia in Locris. But he was obliged to leave the honour 
of bringing the war to a close to the rude L. Mummius, who, after 
a victory at Leucopetra on the Isthmus, took and destroyed the 
wealthy city of Corinth B. C. 146, and then traversed Greece, but 
especially Peloponnesus, spreading desolation wherever he appeared. 
The inhiibitants of Corinth and other places were partly put to the 
sword, and partly sold as slaves ; the treasures of art were ruthlessly 
destroyed, or carried away to Ptome, to adorn the palaces and villas 
of the nobles. Greece, however, does not appear to have been 
made a Roman province, under the name of Achaia, till many years 
later. Under the oppressive administration of the Romans, the 
prosperity of the once flourishing little states gradually died away, 
and scarcely a trace was left of the ancient patriotism and love of 
liberty. The Spartans continued to indulge their warlike propen- 
sities by serving as mercenaries in the armies of foreign powers, 
while the Athenians continued to be valued by the Romans as 
scholars, artists, poets, actors, and dancers, who contributed to the 
entertainment and amusement of their haughty conquerors, though 
they rarely succeeded in gaining their esteem and respect. As a 
seat of learning, however, Athens continued to maintain its rank as 
one of the principal places in the ancient world, to which men, fond 
of ease and letters, flocked from all parts, as to a great university. 

4. The peace which Carthage had concluded with Rome in B. c. 
201, lasted for more than half a century, during which period the 
Carthaginians, by industry, commerce, and ogriculture, to some 
extent recovered their former prosperity. But this prosperity only 
gave fresh fuel to the national hatred of the Romans, and excited 
their jealousy and fear. Masinissa, the neighbour of Carthage, who 
enjoyed the favour of the Romans, and seems even to have been 
instigated by them, neglected no opportunity of harassing and 
annoying the reviving state. The Roman Cato, who was infatuated 
by a blind hatred of Carthage, partly perhaps because the Cartha- 
ginians had rejected his proffered mediation between them and 
Masinissa, and partly from a real, though unfounded fear of the 
growing power of Carthage, urged in every speech he made in the 
senate the necessity of crushing the African republic. Masinissa, 
who well knew the feelings of the party at Rome hostile to Car- 
thage, and was sure not only of impunity, but of support and pro- 
' Compare p. 270, foil. 
29 



838 HISTORY OF ROME. 

tection, increased his own dominion at the expense of Carthage, 
and by constant disputes and vexations drove the Carthaginians toi 
the necessity of defending their rights by force of arms, because ' 
Rome, when appealed to, either delayed pronouncing sentence, or I 
decided in favour of the aggressor. The Romans, gladly seizing the' 
opportunity, charged the Carthaginians with having broken the' 
peace. The people of Carthage implored their mercy; and tol 
assure them that tliey had no hostile intentions, they not only sent 1 
three hundred of their n(jblest citizens as hostages to Rome, but I 
delivered up all their ships and arms. This happened in B. c. 149 ; 
and when all this was done, the Romans further demanded thatj 
Carthage should be razed to the ground, and that the inhabitants! 
Bhoidd build a new town for themselves at a distance of many miles] 
from the sea. The treacherous and insolent nature of this demand i 
drove the people to despair and madness; they resolved to perish i 
under the ruins of their own houses rather than yield to such inso- 
lence. A biild, patriotic spirit seized all ranks and all ages, and 
the women cheerfully sacrificed all their finery upon the altar of 
their country. The whole city was at once changed into a military 
camp, temples were transformed into manufactories of arms, and 
nothing was i^pared that could sprve to deliver the country from its 
impending doom. Such a spirit was too much even for the Roman 
legions, accustomed as they were to conquest and victory. Several 
times they were repulsed, and thrown into such a perilous condi- 
tion, that at last the Romans found it necessary to appoint P. Cor- 
nelius Scipio iEmilianus, the son of ^milius Paulus, who had been 
adopted into the family of the Scipios, to the consulship for B. c. 
147. He had not yet attained the age to qualify him for the con- 
sulship, but he had already given proofs of the highest military 
talent. Even he, however, was not able to take the city, which 
offered a most desperate resistance, until the inhabitants were 
reduced by the most fearful fatnine, and even then he had to 
conquer every inch of ground, during a murderous fight in the 
streets of Carthage, which lasted for six days, B. c. 146. The fury 
of the enraged soldiers, and a conflagration which continiled with- 
out interruption for seventeen days, changed the once proud mistress 
of the jMediterranean into a heap of ruins. A small number of 
determined Carthaginians, who had manfully defended the tetnple 
of -^sculapius, the highest point in the city, when they saw that 
all was hopeless, set fire to the temple, and found their death in 
the flames. Fifty thou.sand inhabitants, who escaped from the 
carnage, are said to have been sold into slavery by Scipio, who, 
from this conquest, like his great namesake, obtained the surname 
Africanus. The territory of Carthage was changed into the Roman 
province of Africa, and a curse was pronounced upon the site of the 
ancient city, that it might never be rebuilt. 



INTERNAL CONDITION OP ROME. 889 

5. Rome had now become virtually the mistress of all the 
countries round the basin of the Mediterranean, for the few states, 
such as Numidia, Egypt, and Pergaraus, which still enjoyed a 
nominal independence, were destined at no distant period to lose 
even this appearance of freedom, for Rome had become conscious 
that she must rule the world. This destiny of Rome, however, 
was not the effect of any settled plan of her rulers or statesmen ; it 
was rather the result of circumstances, and she was forced, often 
very reluctantly, for the sake of her own peace and safety, to con- 
tinue her conquests at an inconvenient distance. We have seen 
that newly conquered countries were sometimes not even retained, 
but given to those who had assisted Rome in conquering them. 
But great as was the prosperity abroad, at home the cancer of pov- 
erty was eating deeply into the vital parts of the state, while the 
upper classes indulged in every kind of foreign luxury. The polit- 
ical constitution had been finally fixed long ago, and the difference 
between patricians and plebeians was no longer thought of. But 
although not recognised by law, a new aristocracy (^^nobiles, ojjtimates) 
had arisen which based its claims upon wealth, and more especially 
upon family honours; that is, those who could boast of a long list 
of ancestors who had been invested with the great offices of the 
republic looked upon themselves as being entitled to the same 
honours, whereas those who had no such ancestors to refer to were 
virtually almost excluded, and stigmatised by the name of obscure 
persons [ohicurP) ; and if any such person succeeded in raising 
himself to the highest dignity, he was styled an upstart (jwvus 
homo). Henceforth, therefore, the struggle in the republic was 
between the rich and the poor, between those who were in possession 
of all the material and political powers, and those who possessed 
neither, but were anxious to secure, at least, the means of living. 

6. Ever since the Romans had formed connections with the 
Greeks in southern Italy, and still more after the Illyrian and 
Macedonian wars, the intellectual superiority of the Greeks had 
manifested its influence in all the departments of public and pri- 
vate life. Greek gods and Greek forms of worship were adopted 
at a very early period, and threw many parts of the ancient national 
or Italian religion so much into the shade, that they became mere 
matters of antiquarian curiosity, whose meaning and import were 
forgotten. Greek education and an acquaintance with Greek arts 
and literature were regarded as necessary by the best among the 
Roman families, and no one can say to what this hellenizing spirit 
might have led, had it not been checked by a party which still 
clung tenaciously to the ancient and simple ways of their ancestors. 
This party was headed by M. Porcius Cato, who in his censorship 
manfully struggled against the prevailing fashion, and made his 
name proverbial as Cato censorius. The foreign influence which 



340 HISTORY OF ROME. 

he combated showed itself not only in education and in literature, 
which was at first little more than translation and adaptation from 
the Greek, but extended over the whole life of the Romans, and 
was seen in the luxuries of dress and of the table, in the affectation 
of polished manners, and in sensual enjoyments ; for along with the 
riches of the East the conquerors also imported its follies and vices. 
In B. C. 155 Cato carried a decree ordering the three Greek philos- 
ophers, Carneades, Diogenes, and Critolaus, who had been sent to 
Rome as ambassadors from Athens, and attracted crowds of young 
men to their lectures, to quit the city. Long before this time it 
had been found necessary to prohibit the celebration of the Bacchic 
festivals (^Bacchanalia^, which had been introduced from southern 
Italy and formed a focus for every vice and licentiousness. Cato 
endeavoured to counteract the evil tendency not only by legal enact- 
ments, but by literary productions, such as his works on agriculture, 
the foundation of Rome's greatness, and on the Italian nations, 
whose history formed as strong a contrast to that of Rome in his 
time, as his own frugal and simple mode of life, and his old- 
fashioned cheerfulness in his social circles, did to the lavish extrav- 
agance and fashionable refinement of his opponents. But still the 
very example of Cato, who himself commenced the study of Greek 
in his old age, shows that obstinate partiality for what is old and 
established must ultimately give way to the onward movement 
which nothing can completely stop. 

7. The wealth carried to Italy after the Punic, Macedonian, and 
Syrian wars was immense, and exercised the greatest influence upon 
the manners and morality of the Romans. The families from whqm 
the highest magistrates and generals were taken, accumulated such 
enormous riches, as to he able to live more like princes than plain 
citizens of the republic. Their humble dwellings were exchanged 
for stately villas surrounded by parks and filled with the most costly 
furniture and the most precious works of art, of which they had 
stripped the conquered countries and cities. In the acquisition of 
these treasures they were not very scrupulous a"s to the means em- 
ployed, whence the constant complaints about bribery, avarice, and 
oppression in the provinces. The ladies especially, who possessed 
much more influence at Rome than in Greece, indulged in extrava- 
gant luxuries and dress, against which the laws proved powerless. 
The immorality and degeneracy of the wealthy were but too soon 
communicated to the great body of the people. The ancient and 
frugal mode of life, as well as the laborious pursuit of agriculture, 
was more and more abandoned. The young men preferred military 
service abroad where their toil was rewarded with wealth and enjoy- 
ment, to the peaceful employments at home; the soldiers always 
liked best to serve under a commander who was willing to allow 
them the greatest license, and as his elevation depended upon their 



INTERNAL CONDITION OP ROME. 841 

votes in the assembly, the men aspiring to high offices neglected no 
means of gaining popularity, however immoral or illegal they might 
De. This hunting after popularity was, and remained, one of the 
most fatal disorders of the Roman republic. The wealthy vied 
with one another to win the favour of the multitude by splendid 
games and exhibitions, of which the Romans were always passion- 
ately fond; and by this means the people were demoralised and 
corrupted. Their sense of honour was stifled, and with it the 
source of virtue dried up. The public games exhibited at Rome 
for the amusement of the multitude show that the influence of 
Greek culture had affected only the surface of the great body of the 
Romans; for while in Greece the national games were a stimulus 
to great and noble efforts in war and in peace, the gladiatorial and 
animal fights of the Roman circus produced and could produce no 
other effect than that of fostering a delight in cruelty and blood- 
shed, and of familiarising the people with scenes that ought to 
have filled them with disgust and horror. 

8. Reckless extravagance was indulged in not only by the wealthy 
but also by the poorer classes, so that Rome has not unfitly been 
called " an abyss which no treasures were able to fill up." The 
natural consequence was poverty and distress, with all the evils 
that generally accompany them. Usurers filled their coffers from 
the misery of thousands, who, notwithstanding their wretched con- 
dition, looked upon themselves as the lords of the earth, and treated 
with contempt those unfortunate foreigners whom war had reduced 
to slavery. A most lucrative trade was at this time carried on in 
slaves, and some of the best among the Romans did not disdain to 
enrich themselves by the odious traffic. The rude and half-savage 
natives of Sardinia and Corsica (probably Ligurians mixed with 
Iberians), who were employed for coarse labour, were sold at a very 
low price, while the more educated and refined Greeks and Asiatics, 
who served as secretaries, readers, teachers, tutors, and domestic 
servants, often fetched very high prices in the market. But not- 
withstanding all these symptoms of internal decay, Rome's outward 
prosperity was ever increasing, and the great public works, high- 
roads, canals, and aqueducts, are sufficient attestations of the lofty 
spirit and persevering energy of this wonderful people. 

9. The optimates, amassing their wealth chiefly in the provinces, 
were ever eager for fresh wai'S and conquests. When appointed 
governors of foreign provinces under the title of proconsul or prae- 
tor, they generally lonked more to their own interests than to the 
welfare of the provincials. As the Roman government did not 
itself levy the taxes in the provinces, but left this duty to wealthy 
capitals (^publican i), who paid to the state a stipulated sum, and 
then obtained the right either themselves or through their agents 
to collect the taxes and duties, a wide field for extortion and cru<»l 

29* 



342 HISTORYOFROME. 

oppression was left open, and the most enormous sums were carried 
to Italy from the provinces. What was left by the publicani was 
speedily absorbed by hungry usurers and money-lenders, who usually 
inundated a country as soon as it became a Roman province; 
hence a few years were often sufficient to ruin the prosperity of a 
whole country. There existed, it is true, laws against extortion 
{(le rcpetundis) in the provinces, and provincials might seek redress 
from the Roman senate ; but as the judges were taken from the 
senators, who either had been guilty of the same crime, or were 
looking forward to similar opportunities of enriching themselves, 
the accused generally escaped unpunished, or were sentenced, for 
the sake of appearance, to pay a small fine. 

10. Sometimes the misrule of the governors and the extortion of 
the publicani drove the provincials into despair and rebellion. The 
first instances of this kind occurred in Lusitania in Spain, where 
Ser. Sulpicius Galba, after having sufi"ered a severe defeat, by his 
avarice and cruelty called forth a general insurrection. Galba 
treacherously causing the people to appear before him without arms, 
ordered them all to be massacred. Viriathus, a common Lusita- 
nian, but a brave and patriotic soldier, who escaped on that fearful 
day, rallied round him as many of his countrymen as he could, and 
for a period of eight years, from B. C. 148 to 140, carried on a war 
which was most disastrous to the Romans. In B. c. 141 a peace 
was concluded with him, in which the Romans were obliged to 
recognise him as their friend and ally; but regarding this as an 
intolerable humiliation, they renewed the war in the year follow- 
ing, and got rid of their enemy only by hiring assassins, who mur- 
dered him in his own tent. The Lusitanians continued the war 
for a few years longer, but were in the end obliged to submit, 
B. c. 137. 

11. Even before this war was brought to a close, another had 
broken out with the Celtiberians in b. c. 143. Their capital was 
Numantia, a city renowned in the history of Spain for the brave 
and noble resistance it ofi"ered to the valour of the Roman legions. 
It was situated on a lofty eminence on the upper Durius, and held 
out against the besieging and blockading armies for a period of five 
years. In b. c. 137 the Numantines put the consul C. Hostilius 
Mancinus in a situation so perilous, that he was obliged to conclude 
a peace with them, in which their independence was recognised. 
But the senate again resorted to the miserable expedient which had 
been adopted after the defeat of Claudium : Mancinus was to be 
delivered up to the Numantines, and the war to be resumed with 
renewed vigour. The brave mountaineers remained undismayed, 
and for P. Cornelius Scipio, the destroyer of Carthage, was reserved 
the unenviable task of torturing to death the heroic citizens of Nu- 
mantia. When he received the command of the Roman army, he 



THE OPTIJIATES. 343 

conduced the siege with the utmost vigour. The besieged suffered 
from the most frightful famine, and for some time fed upon the 
corpses of their fellow-citizens. At last, in B. c. lo3, they were 
obliged to surrender, and having first killed their wives and chil- 
dren, they threw open the gates. Their number was very small, 
and in consequence of their long sufferings, their features hardly 
resembled those of human beings. Scipio then destroyed the 
mountain fortress, the ruins of which, not far from Soria, are still 
a monument of the noble struggle for freedom and independence. 
Spain now became a Roman province, and being exhausted, re- 
mained quiet for more than thirty years, but fresh acts of oppres- 
sion afterwards gave rise to new wars. 

12. In the same year in which Numantia fell, Attalus, king of 
Pergamus, died, and in his will bequeathed his kingdom to the 
Koman people, probably in compliance with an express demand of 
the senate. Soon afterwards, B.C. 131, Aristonicus, a relation of 
the late king, came forward to claim the kingdom as his lawful 
inheritance. Finding many supporters, he placed himself at the 
head of a general insurrection of the Lydians and lonians. The 
war, in which the Romans sustained serious losses, was continued 
into the year B. c. 130, when M. Perperna brought it to a close. 
Aristonicus was taken prisoner and carried to Rome in triumph. 
The kingdom of Pergamus, with the exception of Phrygia, which 
was given to Mithridates V., king of Pontus, as a reward for his 
assistance, was now constituted as a Roman province under the 
name of Asia. 



CHAPTER X. 

FROM THE TIME OF THE GRACCHI DOWN TO THE FIRST WAR 
AGAINST MITHRIDATES. 

1. The new aristocracy of the optimates, which had gradually 
been formed after the two ancient estates of the patricians and ple- 
beians had been j)laced upon a footing of political equality not only 
endeavoured to exclude all novi homines from the great offices of 
the republic, but also maintained themselves, like the patricians of 
old, in the exclusive possession of the ager puhlicus, wliich in fact 
they regarded as their private property, neither heeding the limita- 
tion fixed by the Licinian law, nor particularly scrupulous about 
paying the rent to the treasury. The number of these optimates 
was comparatively small, but they held in their hands the adminis- 
tration of the republic and the provinces, and they alone earned 



344 HISTORY OF ROME. 

glory, wealth, and triumphs by foreign wars, while the great body 
of the people were oppressed by the constant necessity of serving in 
the armies, and were suffering fi-ora want, for the booty taken in 
war generally passed into the hands of the generals and other opti- 
mates. Nay, it would appear that in some instances the wealthy 
landed proprietor by fraud or violence deprived his weaker neigh- 
bour of his small patrimony, and reduced him and his family to 
beggary. In this manner the optimates amassed enormous riches, 
while multitudes were pining in abject poverty. The class of small 
landed proprietors, who once had constituted the strength of the 
republic, had almost entirely disappeared, and instead of them there 
had arisen a body of citizens without property, spending their life 
in idleness, and ready to sell their political birthright for miserable 
bribes. Their number had, moreover, been increased by the admis- 
sion of strangers and freedom to the franchise. So long as the 
wealthy landed proprietors had cultivated their princely estates 
(Jatlfnndia) by free peasants or clients, no alarming symptoms 
showed themselves, because the impoverished husbandman might 
support himself and his family' at least by working as an agricul- 
tural labourer; but when the avarice of the nobles led them to 
employ hordes of slaves on their estates instead of free labourers, 
who were now abandoned as homeless wanderers in their own 
country, a few of the nobler natures among the Romans began to 
feel uneasy, and were prompted by a feeling of humanity to devise 
a remedy for the ever increasing evil. 

2. Formerly the people in the comitia had voted openly, but in 
B. c. 139 the Gabinian law introduced the vote by ballot in the 
election of magistrates, and two years later the same practice was 
extended by the Cassian law to the popular courts of law. By 
these measures the influence of the optimates over the poor became 
only more pernicious; the multitude became more venal, and the 
nobles had the best opportunities, by bribing or purchasing votes, 
and by manumitting their slaves, to carry the elections according 
to their own wishes and interests. These evils might have been 
remedied by creating an independent middle class, either by dis- 
tributing the public land, of which the state possessed a vast 
amount, among the poor, or by conferring the full franchise upon 
the Latins. The latter of these remedies was unpalatable to the 
pride and ambition of the ruling people, and the former to the 
avarice and selfishness of the Roman nobility. The fears of the 
humane and truly patriotic citizens must have been increased by 
what was just happening in Sicily, where a war of the slaves, com- 
manded by Eunus, one of their number, broke out in B. c. 134 
against the free population, and was carried on with the horrors 
common in wars of slaves who break their chains. It raged for 
more than two years, and upwai'ds of twenty thousand slaves pre 
said to have been killed. 



TIB. SEMPRONIUS GRACCHUS. 345 

3. Occurrences like these, which showed to what disastrous con- 
sequences the present system, if persevpred in, might ultimately 
lead, emboldened the noble and patriotic tribune, Tib. Sempronius 
Gracchus, a son of Cornelia, the daughter of the elder Scipio Afri- 
canus, in B. C. 13.3, to come forward as the friend and champion of 
the poor. He proposed the re-enactment of the Licinian law, which 
had, in fact, never been repealed, but hi>d in the course of time 
become a dead letter. No one, accordingly, was to be allowed to 
possess more than five hundred jugera of public land ; the surplus 
was to be taken from the actual possessors, and distributed in small 
lots as full property among poor citizens. A commission of three 
men was to be appointed to superintend the measurement and dis- 
ti'ibution; and at the same time it was proposed that the property 
which had just been bequeathed to the lloman people by king 
Attains of Pergamus, should be distributed among the poor to 
enable them to purchase stock and the necessary agricultural imple- 
ments. The optimatcs, headed by the violent and stubborn Scipio 
Nasica, opposed the bill with all their might, and by intrigues in- 
duced another tribune, Octavius, to put his veto on the proposal of 
his colleague, in which scheme they succeeded the more easily, 
because Octavius, too, possessed more of the public land than the 
law allowed. Gracchus left no means untried to induce his col- 
league to give up his opposition; but all was in vain; avarice and 
the instigations of the optimates prevailed. Gracchus thus found 
himself under the necessity of either giving up his noble and 
patriotic scheme, or depriving his colleague of his powers. He 
adopted the latter course, and in the assembly of the people, which 
was numerously attended by men from the country, he proposed 
the deposition of Octavius. This plan succeeded; Octavius was 
stripped of his oflfice, and a new tribune being elected in his stead, 
the bill of Gracchus was passed. This procedure, which was con- 
trary to established usage, gave his opponents a handle against him, 
and they now endeavoured to persuade the people that Gracchus 
aimed at subverting the constitution, and even spread the malicious 
report that his object was to make himself king of Rome. The 
people in their ignorance allowed themselves to be misguided, and 
notwithstanding the purity of his intentions, Gracchus found that 
his popularity was decreasing. When at the approaching election 
of the tribunes for the next year he ngain presented himself as a 
candidate, the optimates and their followers created a tumult, in 
which the illustrious tribune was slain, together with three hun- 
dred of his friends and followers. These scenes of bloodshed were 
followed by every kind of persecution, in which the nobles took 
bloody revenge for the fears they had endured of beiug deprived of 
their illegal possessions. During the night after the murder, Caius, 
the brother of Tiberius Gracchus, wished to have the body of his 



346 HISTORY OF ROME. 

brother removed and decently buried, but was prevented ; and 
before daybreak, it was thrown into the Tiber, together with those 
of all the others who had fallen during the tumult. 

4. The aristocracy had gained a complete triumph, and made 
bloody use of it; but the tribunes also had become aware of their 
power, and the years which now follow are marked by several pop- 
ular enactments. The triumvirs were to superintend the carrying 
into efiFect of the agrarian law, but the optimates continued to ob- 
struct their working in every possible way, and contrived, by ap- 
pointments abroad, to remove from the city those men whose spirit 
and energy they had most reason to dread. But all their machina- 
tions did not prevent C. Sempronius Gracchus, the younger and 
more talented brother of Tiberius Gracchus, after a lapse of ten 
years, from offering himself for the tribuneship. He was elected 
to the office for the year B. c. 12.3, in the course of which he car- 
ried a great many laws, all intended to improve the condition of 
the poor and to weaken the power of the senate and the nobles. 
One of them was a re-enactment of his brother's agrarian law. The 
popularity he thus acquired secured his re-election for the next year. 
He commenced his operations of the second year by an enactment, 
transferring the trial of political offences from the courts composed 
of senators to courts consisting of equites or wealthy capitalists. 
By this means, the offenders, generally senators, ceased to be tried 
by their peers, but became subject to courts composed of quite a 
different class of men, who seemed less likely to screen offenders or 
make justice a purchaseable article. This law remained in force 
until the time of Sulla. Gracchus' great eloquence and noble 
nature created for him a numerous and powerful party of supporters 
among the poorer classes, whose momentary wants he endeavoured 
to relieve by employing them in making public roads and con- 
structing public buildings. His labours proceeded as satisfactorily 
as could be expected ; but when, urged on by his somewhat vehe- 
ment friend, Fulvius Flaccus, he proposed that the Roman franchise 
should be conferred upon the Italian allies, or at least, upon the 
Latins and Latin colonies, the optimates were seized with the 
greatest alarm, and resorted to an expedient which had been tried 
and found useful before. M. Livius Drusus, one of the tribunes, 
was gained over by the aristocrats and prevailed upon to outbid 
Gracchus in popular measures. He accordingly promised the people 
other and greater advantages, and by this means undermined the 
popularity of Gracchus ; the aristocracy succeeded in preventing 
his re-election to the tribuneship for the third year, and even made 
preparations for a proposal to abolish all his enactments. As 
Gracchus was now divested of the sacred character of tribune, his 
opponents were less scrupulous. During the disturbances which 
arose, the consul L. Opimus, a personal enemy of Gracchus, was 



THE JUGURTHINE WAR. 347 

invested with dictatorial power, to save the republic, as the cry was, 
from impending ruin. A battle was fought in the streets of Rome, 
and Gracchus and Fulvius Flaccus with their followers were over- 
powered. Flaccus and three thousand of his party were slain, and 
their bodies thrown into the Tiber. Gracchus escaped across the 
river into the grove of the Furies, where, at his own request, he 
was killed by a faithful slave. Exile, execution, and imprisonment 
then completed the work which had been left undone by the sword, 
and the aristocratic party, when satiated with blood, erected a temple 
to(!oncord ! But peace was not restored, and the triumph achieved 
by the optimates was not of long duration : the measure of their 
misdeeds was not yet full. 

5. The exertions and sacrifices made by the noble brothers were 
productive of no permanent good to the republic, and things went 
on much in the same way as they had done before. The optimates 
disgraced the victory they had won by insatiable avarice, acts of in- 
justice, and the most barefaced bribery. But events were taking 
place destined soon to bring the evil to a head. The audacious and 
crafry Jugurtha, the adopted son of Masinissa, king of Numidia, 
knew the venal character of the Romans, and relying on their 
moral depravity, and feeling sure of impunity, murdered the two 
sons of Masinissa and took possession of their dominions. The 
Romans during these proceedings acted the part of mere lookers 
on, or allowed themselves by large bribes to be induced to connive 
at the crimes of Jugurtha. At length, however, the tribune C. 
Memmius gave vent to his indignation at the conduct of the 
nobles, and by exposing their conduct induced the senate in B. c. 
Ill to declare war against the Numidian usurper. An army was 
accordingly sent to Africa, but the commanders soon found out that 
they could derive greater personal advantages from negotiation and 
treating with Jugurtha, than from vigorously carrying out the decree 
of the senate. When these things became known at Rome, the 
honest and talented Memmius again came forward, and fearlessly 
exposed the shameless conduct of the Roman commanders in Africa. 
Jugurtha was summoned to Rome, but even now he might have 
escaped with impunity, had he not had the audacity to murder 
young Masi^iva, a grandson of Masinissa. The war was indeed 
continued, but it was conducted in a careless and slovenly manner, 
antil at length, in B. C. 109, the senate endeavoured to allay the 
threatening storm, by giving the command against Jugurtha to the 
honest and brave, but proud Q. Caecilius Metellus. He managed 
the war for a period of two years in a highly creditable manner, 
and restored the honour of the Roman arms. But the people of 
Rome had lost confidence in their noble commanders. 

6. When Metellus went to Africa, he took with him C. Marius 
as one of his lieutenants. This man was of humble parentage. 



348 HISTORY OF ROME. 

but of unbounded ambition, and full of hatred of the aristocracy, |l 
as well as of their polished manners and learning, of which it was! 
bis boast to be profoundly ignorant. Even before he went to I 
Africa, be had attracted public attention by the vigorous manner' 
in which he tried to secure the rights of the poorer classes against! 
the encroachments of the optimates. His personal valour, and his ' 
talent as a military commander, were also generally known and' 
acknowledged, and it was to him that the people of Rome seem to 
have been looking as the man who alone could and would bring the 
war against Jugurtha to a close. In B. C. 108 he formed the design 
of offering himself as a candidate for the consulship, and the in- 
solent manner in which the proud Metellus received the announce- 
ment only fired his ambition ; he therefore proceeded to Rome, 
where the popular party received him with the greatest enthusiasm. 
He obtained the consulship for B. C. 107, and the commission to 
proceed to Africa, as the successor of Metellus, and bring the war , 
against Jugurtha to a termination. Marius, in forming his army, 
enlisted large numbers of the poorer classes and even freedmen, \ 
and having trained them well, his skill, bravery, and straight- ] 
forwardness, were more than a match for the crafty Numidian. 
He was eminently successful, and reduced the enemy to such straits, 
that he was obliged to apply to Bocchus, his father-in-law, king of 
Mauritania, in the hope of stirring him up to a war against Rome. 
But L. Cornelius Sulla, a young noble, who was serving in the 
army of Marius as quaestor, induced Bocchus treacherously to 
deliver up his own son-in-law. Jugurtha was accordingly surren- 
dered to Sulla, who forthwith delivered him up to the consul 
Marius. The war was thus terminated in B. c. 106, and Jugurtha, 
after adorning the triumph of Marius, died of starvation in a Roman 
dungeon. 

7. Nothing could have been more fortunate for Rome, than this 
timely conclusion of the Numidian war, for Italy was threatened 
with an invasion of barbarians more terrible than any it had yet 
experienced. The Cimbri, a Celtic host, who had been pressed 
forward towards the west by commotions among the Sannatians in 
the east, appeared in Noricum on the banks of the Danube, where 
they were joined by an equally numerous host of Teutones or Ger- 
mans. This had happened in B. C. 113. The Cimbri, wandering 
about with their women and children, sought a new home in the 
western part of Europe, and promised to commit no act of hosti' ty 
against either the Romans or their friends. They kept their 
promise ; but being nevertheless treacherously attacked in the 
neighbourhood of Noreia, they completely defeated the Ronian 
army, B. c. 113. After this, instead of invading Italy, they threw 
themselves into Gaul, being joined in Helvetia by other tribes. 
Gaul was fearfully ravaged, and scarcely any part of the country 



CIMBRI AND TEUTONES. 349 

\Fas able to resist the invaders. In the course of four years, five 
consular armies were defeated by the barbarians on the Rhone and 
on the banks of the lake of Geneva. All Italy trembled as in the 
days of Hannibal; no one was anxious to obtain the consulship, 
and Marius was the only man to whom all looked with confidence. 
He had not yet returned from Numidia, but in his absence he was 
elected consul for the year B. C. 104, and the same dignity was 
conferred upon him in the four following years. Fortunately the 
Cimbri, after their victories over the Eomans, invaded Spain, which 
they ravaged in the same manner as Gaul, but in B. c. 102 they 
returned to Gaul, where in the meantime the Teutones also had 
arrived. 

8. Ever since his second consulship, Marius had exerted himself 
to train and discipline his army for the coming struggle, by accus- 
toming the men to every kind of hardship. When the Cimbri 
arrived, Marius was with his army in Gaul, and fought a decisive 
battle in B. c. 102, near Aquae Sextiae (Aix), against the Teutones. 
After this defeat, the barbarians retreated to their waggons, but 
being unable to maintain themselves, the whole body was annihi- 
lated. Half the danger was now overcome; but the Cimbri were 
at the same time descending from the Raetian Alps into Italy, and 
the Roman army which was to oppose them under Q. Lutatius 
Catullus, was obliged to retreat before the invaders to the southern 
bank of the river Po. Marius, on being informed of this, hastened 
to the relief of his colleague, and in a j)lace called the Campi 
Raudii, near Vercellae, he defeated in B. C. 101, the Cimbri as 
completely as he had the year before defeated the Teutones. Only 
a very small band escaped, who seem to have settled on the banks 
of the Mouse, where they were afterwards found by Julius Caesar. 
Marius was the deliverer of Italy, and the pride of the popular 
party ; his sixth consulship, in B. C. 100, was the reward of his 
glorious victories, and under his auspices the democratic or popular 
party gained the upper hand. 

9. The optimates, apprehensive of the growing power of their 
opponents, and of losing what tliey considered their rights, united 
under the leadership of Sulla, who was as ambitious as Marius, but 
combined in his person all the good and all the bad qualities of the 
Roman aristocracy. His connection with Marius in the Numidiaa 
war, and his success, had only increased the hatred of the popular 
leader against him. Marius, who had become giddy by his victo- 
ries, acted in many respects as if he were the master of the republic. 
The lawless conduct of the infamous tribune, L. Appuleius Satur- 
ninus, who was supported by Marius, lorded it over the popular 
assembly by a band of followers, and endeavoured to increase the 
number of his own friends and party by a series of legislative enact- 
ments which were carried by force and violence. Jne of these 

30 



350 HISTORY OF KOME. 

• 

enactments ordained that the lands conquered by Marius in Gaul 
and Africa should be distributed among his veterans. The high- 
minded Q. Cuecilius Metellus, who refused to be a party to the 
revolutionary schemes of Saturninus, was sent into exile; and 
Saturninus succeeded in raising himself twice to the tribuneship by 
causing his competitors to be murdered in broad daylight. At 
length, wishing to gain the consulship for Servilius Glaucia, one 
of his associates, he caused his competitor, the noble C. Memmius, 
to be murdered, B. c. 100. This and many other atrocious acts at 
length induced Mnrius to renounce his connection with Saturninus. 
Even his own jiarty began to detest the monster, and when Marius 
called upon his fellow-citizens, they readily took up arms in the 
defence of the republic. Saturninus, Glaucia, and their followers, 
withdrew to the Capitol, where they were besieged; but want of 
water soon compelled them to surrender, and nearly all of them 
were put to death by command of Marius. After these horrible 
scenes, Marius himself for a time withdrew from public life, and 
the party strife seemed to subside. But the causes of discontent^ 
and disease were not removed, and every one capable of discerning' 
the signs of the times must have looked forward with terror to the 
explosion which could not be far distant. 

10. Sulla neglected no opportunity of wounding the already; 
exasperated feelings of Marius. He was anxious to show that the 
honour of having brought the Numidian war to a close belonged ti^ 
him alone, and that Marius had no share in it. But this and 
similar things were of minor importance. Far weightier matters 
were agitating the minds of thinking men. The reform introduced' 
by Gracchus in the composition of the courts of justice had provf d 
a complete failure, as the equites were found to be as accessible to 
bribes as the senators had been; the number of the poor and help- 
less was increasing every year in a most alarming ratio, which 
enabled the wealthy, by their money, to rule the state ; and, lastly, 
the Latins and Italian allies of Rome had for some time been 
demanding the full franchise. It required a man of unusual bold- 
ness to grapple with these questions, but it was impossible to devise 
means satisfactory to all parties. At length, in B. c. 91, the elo- 
quent and talented tribune, M. Livius Brusus, undertook the task. 
He first endeavoured to remedy the scandalous mal-administration 
of justice by law in which the judicial power was divided betwicn 
the senators and equites. He contemplated checking the growth 
of pauperism by agrarian laws, the establishment of colonies, and 
regular distribution of corn among the poorer classes. His third 
measure demanded the franchise for all the Italians, but before this 
could be carried, Brusus was murdered in his own house, and the 
Italians, seeing from this occurrence that it was hopeless to endea- 
vour to gain their rights in a constitutional and peaceful way, took 



THE SOCIAL WAR. 351 

Up arms to conquer by force wliat had been so obstinately refused 
to their petitions and demands. This was the beginning of the 
Social or Marsic war, which broke out in B. C. 90, and blazed forth 
at once in all parts of Italy. 

11. In the earliest times, Rome had from time to time conferred 
the franchise upon the neighbouring districts, as they were succes- 
sively incorporated with the state. The number of such districts, 
or tribes as they were called, had been increased to thirty-five about 
the end of the first Punic war, the city of Rome forming four tribes, 
and the surrounding country thirty-one ; but after that time the 
franchise was not extended. The rights enjoyed by the Latins and 
Latin colonies approached nearest the Roman franchise, and it was 
evident that in any political reform they must be the first to obtain 
it. The Italian allies had for a long time demanded to be emanci- 
pated and placed on a footing of equality with the Romans ; but 
whenever the question had been mooted, they were treated with 
haughtiness and contempt. They had set their last hope upon the 
efi'orts of Livius Drusus, and this time they were prepared to gain 
their point either by persuasion or by force. All the Sabellian 
nations, with the Marsians and Samnites at their head, had formed 
themselves into a confederacy, and, after the murder of Drusus, 
renounced their obedience to Rome. Their object was to establish 
an Italian republic governed by two consuls, and with the town 
of Corfinium, henceforth to be called Italica, as its capital. Armies 
well trained in arms, and a well supplied common fund, seemed to 
promise the best results. Fortunately for Rome, the Latins all 
over Italy, with the Etruscans and Umbrians, had not joined the 
insurgents, and the Romans, in order to prevent such a contingency, 
at once conferred the franchise upon the Latins by a law proposed . 
by the consul L. Julius Caesar, B. c. 90. The war was carried on 
simultaneously in several parts of Italy, and many a bloody battle 
was fought. In B. c. 88, when the Etruscans and Umbrians were 
on the point of joining the Italians, Rome wisely propitiated them 
also by granting them the franchise. By these concessions the 
strength and still more the hopes of the allies were broken, and as 
Rome was threatened by a war with Mithridates in Asia, and was 
anxious to restore the peace in Italy, she promised the franchise to 
j all those Italians who should lay down their arms. This measure 
[ produced the desired effect, and the Social War, in which Italy had 
lost three hundred thousand of her sons, terminated in B. c. 88, 
i But the Samnites still held out with the same vigour and determi- 
nation which they had displayed in their former conflicts with Rome, 
1 and afterwards, during the civil war between Marius and Sulla, 
they joined the former. The new citizens thus admitted to the 
franchise, however, were not put on a complete footing of equality 
with the old ones, and this arrangement contained of course the 
seeds of future discord and disturbances. 



352 HISTORY OF ROME, 



CHAPTER XI. 

FROM THE FIRST WAR AGAINST MITHRIDATES, DOWN TO THE 
DEATH OF SULLA. 

1. The kingdom of Pontus, in the north-east of Asia Minor, had 
originally been a province subject to Persia, but in B. c. 36.3 Ario- 
barzanes, satrap of Phrygia, made himself independent, and consti- 
tuted Pontus as a separate kingdom. Under his successor, Mithri- 
dates, who reigned from B. c. 337 to 302, the kingdom became 
consolidated and powerful. Mithridates V. (B. 0. 156-120) assist) d 
the Romans in their war against Aristonicus, for which they rewanU d 
him by adding Phrygia to his kingdom. But after his death, when 
his son and successor Mithridates VI. was still very young, tlicy 
took Phrygia from him. The young king was at the time unable 
to resent this aggression, but strengthened himself and extended 
his kingdom as far as he could without coming into contact with tlie 
Romans. Mithridates was a man of great courage and enterpriso, 
and possessed of all the advantages that Greek culture and civilisa- 
tion could afford. When he was sufficiently prepared, he did not 
hesitate to interfere in the affairs of Cappadocia and Bithynia, and 
when opposed by the Romans, his well-disciplined troops had no 
difficulty in defeating them. He then advanced westward, and his 
arrival was hailed by the lightheaded Greeks, who looked upon him 
as their deliverer from the Roman yoke. In B. C. 88, no less than 
eighty thousand Romans residing in various parts of Asia Minnr 
are said to have been put to death by his orders. Having made 
himself master of the whole of Asia Minor, he sent his general 
Archelaus with a large army into Greece, where the principal cities, 
and among them Athens and Thebes, threw their gates open to him 
as their deliverer. 

2. The outrage committed by Mithridates, and his invasion of 
Greece, by which the safety of Italy itself was endangered, called 
for immediate and energetic measures, and the Roman senate con- 
ferred the supreme command in the war upon Sulla, who had 
greatly distinguished himself during the Social War, and was 
honoured with the consulship for the year B. c. 88. He still was 
the leader of the aristocratic party, and was at the time stationed 
with an army at Nola, conducting the war against the Samnites. 
Marius felt greatly hurt at finding himself in his old age supersede d 
by his rival, who was now appointed to the command in a war, in 
which glory and wealth were sure to be the reward of success. 
Smarting under the feeling of jealousy, and wounded at being 
'passed over on such an occasion, he formed a connection with the 



FIRST WAR AGAINST MITHRIDATES. 353 

bold tribune P. Sulpicius, who, parti}- by a cunning distribution of 
the now citizens among the ancient thirty-five tribes, which secured 
to them the full and unlimited franchise, and partly by violence, 
carried a hiw depriving Sulla of the command against Mithridates, 
and conferring it upon Marius. When this intelligence was brought 
to Sulla at Nola, he forthwith marched with his army against Rome, 
which, being taken by surprise, was easily forced to admit him and 
his soldiers. Notwithstanding the furious resistance offered to him 
in the streets of Rome, Sulla succeeded in putting his enemies to 
flight; he used his victory with moderation, and outlawed only 
Marius himself, and eleven of the most conspicuous ringleaders. 
Marius with great difficulty escaped to Minturnae, and thence 
crossed over to Africa, where he watched the course of events. 

3. Sulla after his victory remained at Rome for a short time, to 
make such arraogements as might insure the peace and tranquillity 
of the city during his absence in the East. He restored the power 
of the senate, and limited the rights of the new citizens; his appa- 
rent moderation went so far that he even allowed L. Cornelius Cinna, 
a leader of the democratic party, to be elected to the consulship for 
B. c. 87, together with his aristocratic friend Cn. Octavius. Soon 
after these new consuls had entered upon their office, Sulla went 
with his army to Greece, leaving Pompeius Rufus to continue the 
war against the Samnites. On his arrival in Greece, Boeotia and 
Thebes submitted to him at once ; but Athens had to do fearful 
penance for its revolt. The Pontian general Archelaus, after two 
bloody battles at Chaeroneia and Orchoraenos, was obliged to take 
to flight, and Athens was taken and plundered in B. c. 86, after a 
long siege, during which the people had suffered from the most ter- 
rible famine. Sulla's conduct at Athens, notwithstanding his Greek 
culture, was marked by such barbarity as to make his name the 
terror and dread of all the Greeks. The fortifications, and even the 
ancient temples, were destroyed or pillaged, and a vast number of 
the treasures of art were carried away ; among them was the library 
of Apellico, which is said to have contained the only complete copy 
of the works of Aristotle. When Archelaus, notwithstanding the 
reinforcements he had received, was obliged to quit Europe, Mith- 
ridates, being himself hard pressed in Asia by Fimbria, ordered 
Archelaus to commence negotiations for peace. While these transac- 
tions were going on, Sulla proceeded to the north, chastising those 
Greeks who had allied themselves with the Pontian king. Peace 
was not finally concluded until B. C. 84, when Sulla had a personal 
interview with the king in Asia. Mithridates had to surrender his 
whole fleet, pay all the expenses of the war, and give up all his 
conquests, so that his empire was limited to the original kingdom 
of Pontus. The revolted cities and provinces of Asia had to pay 
enormous sums to the conquerors; and the inhabitants, being 
30* 



354 HISTORY OF ROME. 

reduced by tliese extortions to poverty, became an easy prey to the 
Roman usurers, who like vultures flocked into the unhappy pro- 
vinces. Fimbria, who belonged to the party of Mariue, was, not- 
withstanding his victories over Mithridates, treated as an enemy by 
Sulla, and beino; deserted by his own soldiers, committed suicide. 

4. While Sulla was engaged in Greece and Asia, Rome was again] 
the scene of civil bloodshed, for no sooner had Sulla left, than Cin- 
na attempted to abolish his regulations, to recall those who had 
been outlawed, and to distribute the new citizens among the thirty- 
five tribes. But the aristocratic party, in a fierce struggle, drove 
him out of the city and deprived him of the consulship. He then 
proceeded to the army at Nola, and rallying around him as many 
malcontents from all parts of Italy as he could, invited his friend 
Marius to return from Africa. The latter unhesitatingly obeyed the 
call, and landing in Etruria, collected an army consisting of hard- ■ 
ened peasants, daring robbers, freedmen, and new citizens, and in : 
conjunction with Cinna attacked and blockaded the city of Rome, , 
which was compelled by hunger and internal discord to .surrender. 
Warius now abandoned himself without restraint to taking vengeance 
upon his political opponents. Bands of savage soldiers, murdering 
and robbing, marched through the streets of the city, and the lead- 
ing men of the aristocratic party, consulars and senators, such as ■ 
Catulus, the consul Cn. Octavius, the orator M. Antonius, and many 
others, were killed, their houses plundered and devastated, their 
property confiscated, and their bodies left in the streets. For five 
days and five nights Rome experienced all the horrors of a city 
taken by the sword. 

5. After these sanguinary proceedings, Marius caused himself to 
be elected to his seventh consulship for the year b. c. 86; but the 
terrible excitement of the time, and the debaucheries in which he 
indulged, during the short period of his power, together with the 
fear of Sulla's return and revenge, caused his death about the mid- 
dle of January. In the meantime peace had been concluded with 
the Samnites, and the franchise had been conferred upon them. 
AH Italy was now in the hands of Cinna, and the aristocracy re- 
peatedly urged Sulla to return from the East, to save his friends and 
his party; but he refused to do so, until he should have discharged 
his duty to the republic. At the begiuning of B. c. 83, he at length 
landed in Italy, and proceeded to Campania. Cinna, who had been 
invested with the consulship for four successive years, was murdered 
by his own soldiers. By this act the Marian party was deprived of 
the last able man among them; for Carbo, Marius the younger, and 
Norbanus, who were now at their head, did not possess the talent i 
and energy required by their situation. Sulla in several battles de- 
feated the armies opposed to him, and induced the soldiers belong- 
ing to them to serve under his own standard. In B. c. 82 he drove 



SULLA DICTATOR. 355 

youno; Marius to Praeneste, where lie was closely besieged, and in 
det^pair killed himself. Sulla then entered Rome, where the demo- 
crats had perpetrated the greatest horrors against those who were 
suspected of favouring their opponents. At this moment an army 
commanded by the Samnite, Pontius Telesinus, marched against 
Rome, which he hoped to take by surprise ; but Sulla met the ene- 
my at the Colline gate, and a bloody and murderous battle was 
fought, in which the democratic party was so completely defeated, 
that in his despair, Pontius Telesinus made away with himself. 

6. This battle was the death-blow of the Marian party, and Sulla 
was now undisputed master of Italy, from which all his enemies 
fled. A few days after the battle, eight thousand prisoners were 
butchered in the Circus, while Sulla had assembled the senate in 
the adjoining temple of Bellona, where the cries and shrieks of the 
unfortunate victims could be distinctly heard. The senators, terri- 
fied by these scenes, readily obeyed the commands of the conqueror. 
More than one hundred thousand lives had already been sacrificed 
during the civil war ; but Sulla, not yet satisfied, devised a new and 
unprecedented measure for punishing those whom he suspected. 
He set on foot a proscription, that is, he drew up a list of all those 
whom he chose to regard as his enemies, and set it up in public. 
Any one might kill a person whose name was there registered, and 
rewards were given for the heads of the slain. Their estates were 
confiscated, and their descendants for ever deprived of the franchise. 
This measure, one of the most fearful on record, tore asunder every 
tie of blood, friendship, and hospitality; sous were armed against 
their fathers, and slaves against their masters ; for those who con- 
cealed or protected a proscribed person, were punished in the same 
way as the proscribed themselves. No less than one thousand six 
hundred equites were thus murdered, and among the monsters who 
distinguished themselves during those days of terror, we find Cati- 
line, who some years later planned the destruction of the city of 
Rome. 

7. After having thus cleared Rome and Italy of all opponents, 
Sulla caused himself to be appointed dictator for an indefinite pe- 
riod, to enable him to reform the constitution and the law. He en- 
tered upon this otiSice towards the end of B. c. 82. The first thing 
he did was to reward those soldiers through whose services he had 
gained his present position. Twenty-three legions had colonies as- 
signed to them, consisting mainly of the towns which had supported 
his enen)ies. In these military colonies, the soldiers constituted the 
ruling body, and being scattered over all Italy, they afforded him 
the means of keeping the country in submission ; ten thousand 
slaves were manumitted and formed his body-guard under the name 
of the Cornelii ; the number of senators was increased by persons 
ready to do anything for the dictator, however low or vulgar their 



356 HISTORY OF ROME. 

• 
origin mitrlit be. After these preliminary measures, by which he 
secured his power, he proceeded to reform the constitution. His 
object being to restore the ancient constitution of Rome, he first re- 
duced the powers of the tribunes to what they had been originally, 
and by the same act he deprived the comitia tributa of all their le- 
gislative functions. His second measure consisted in restoring the 
courts for trying offences against the republic to the senators, to 
whom they had belonged before the time of the Gracchi. Lastly, 
Sulla increased the number of public ofiicers, that of the praetors to 
eight, that of the quaestors to twenty, and the members of the col- 
leges of pontiffs and augurs to fifteen. These and some regulations 
relating to the administration of the provinces were his chief politi- 
cal reforms, and they show that he was one of those shortsighted 
men who fancy that by restoring ancient forms they can restore the 
spirit of bygone times. The creation of Sulla was a mere body 
without a soul, and could not last. He was more successful in his 
reforms of the criminal law, which he was the first to place on a 
permanent basis. After having made these arrangements, Sulla, to 
the surprise of every one, in B. c. 79, laid down his dictatorship, 
and withdrew to Puteoli, where he lived as a private person, until, 
in B. C. 78, he died of a most disgusting disea.se which had proba- 
bly been brought on by his voluptuousness and debauchery. Vice 
seems to have been his delight, and mimes, buffoons, and prostitutes 
were his favourite companions in his leisure hours, and during his 
luxurious meals. At the time of his death he was engaged in writ- 
ing his memoirs in Greek; but the part he had finished has not 
come down to us. 

8 During the time of Sulla's dictatorship, the few remnants of 
the Marian party were dispersed in Sicily, Africa, and Spain, where 
they maintained themselves and increased their numbers by mal- 
contents from Italy. Cn. Pompey, who had gained his first laurels 
during the Social War, was sent by Sulla to Sicily and Africa, and 
annihilated the IMarians in those countries, by causing Carbo to be 
assassinated in Sicily, and by defeating in Africa Domitius Aheno- 
barbus and his Numidian supporter, Hiarbas. On his return Pom- 
pey was honoured by Sulla with the surname of the Great, and ob- 
tained a triumph, although he was only an eques and no more than 
twenty-four years old. During the same period the Romans were 
engaged in a second war against Mithridates, from B. c. 83 till 81. 
Soou after Sulla's departure from Asia, the king repented of the 
terms of peace, and as it had not received the sanction of the Roman 
senate, he refused to give up Cappadocia to Ariobarzanes, as he had 
promised to do. Archelaus then deserted to the Romans, and per- 
suaded L. Murena, the commander of the Roman forces in Asia, to 
attack the king at once, and not to wait until he should commence 
hostilities. This advice was adopted. Murena proceeded into Cap- 



POMPEY — SERTORIUS. 357 

padocia and plundered the wealthy temple at Comana; in conse- 
quence of this aggression Mithridates attacked Murena in the vi- 
cinity of Sinope, and defeated him. Peace, however, was concluded 
in B. c. 81, and Mithridates remained in possession of a part of 
Cappadocia. 



CHAPTER XII. 

TROM THE DEATH OP SULLA TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL 
WAR BETWEEN CAESAR AND POMPEY. 

1. In the very year of Sulla's death an attempt was made by M. 
.^milius Lepidus to abolish his ill-judged constitution, but he was 
defeated by the party of Sulla. The attempt, however, did not 
remain without its effects!, for the tribunes and others henceforth, 
year after year, endeavoured to demolish one part after another of 
the edifice reared by Sulla, until at length, in B. C. 70, Cn. Pom- 
pey, in his consulship, carried a law by which the power of the tri- 
bunes was restored to what it had been before the reforms of Sulla; 
and the praetor L. Aurelius Cotta enacted a law by which the 
courts of justice remodelled by Sulla were henceforth to be com- 
posed of senators, equites, and tribuni aerarii. Pompey, though a 
partizan of Sulla, carried or supported these measures, because he 
was anxious to obtain popularity at any cost. He gained his end 
most completely, for although there were among his contemporaries 
men of far greater abilities, yet, partly by his singular good fortune, 
partly by his kindly and sometimes chivalrous conduct, he suc- 
ceeded in winning the confidence and admiration of the citizens as 
well as of the soldiers, and at this time no Roman enjoyed greater 
popularity than he. 

2. In B. c. 82 when Sulla entei-ed Rome, Q. Sertorius, the 
noblest and ablest among the democratic leaders, having become 
disgusted with the proceedings of his party, went with an army to 
Spain, in the hope of being able there to maintain the interests of 
the popular cause. Here he was joined by the exiled and perse- 
cuted remnants of the Marian party, and by his prudence and kind- 
ness, as well as by his honesty and military ability, he succeeded in 
winning the confidence of the Spaniards, and founded an indepen- 
dent republic of Spain, consisting of Romans and Spaniards, and 
defended by an excellently trained army. The new republic was 
to be governed by a senate of three hundred, and two consuls, the 
Spaniards being eligible to the great offices as well as the Romans. 
In the town of Osca he established a great school, in which the 



358 HISTORY OP ROME. 

sons of the Spanish nobles were to receive a Roman education. 
His plans succeeded admirably, and Sertorius was the darling of the 
Spaniards and the Romans. War was commenced against him in 
B. c. 79, but neither Q. Metellus nor Pompey was able to gain any 
advantages over him. In B. c. 74 Sertorius formed an alliance 
with Mithridates of Pontus, hoping thereby to place Rome between 
two fires; but disunion among the Spaniards brought about a 
change which saved Rome from this dangerous enem}'. In B. C 
72, Perperna, whose ambition had been thwarted by the great cap- 
tain, formed a conspiracy against him, and murdered him during a 
banquet at Osca. Perperna then placed himself at the head of the 
army, but in his first encounter with Pompey his whole army was 
cut to pieces, and he himself fell into the hands of his enemy, and 
was put to death. The Spanish republic was overturned, and the 
last remnant of the Marian party was now annihilated. 

3. The number of slaves that had been carried into Italy from 
all the countries round the Mediterranean, and the cruel manner in 
which they were occasionally treated, could not fail to give rise to 
insurrections. In Sicily a second servile war had been carried on 
from B. C 102 to 99, in which thousands were killed on both sides. 
A similar insurrection broke out in B. c. 73 at Capua in Campania, 
where about seventy slaves trained as gladiators, headed by the 
Thracian Spartacus, broke loose. Opening by force the prisons of 
other slaves in southern Italy, and calling on them to assert their 
freedom, they soon increased their nuiuber to ten thousand, all of 
whom were provided with arms. Spartacus seems at first to have 
intended only to restore the liberated slaves to their I'espective 
homes, or to find a country where they might be free ; but having 
defeated several consular armies which attempted to prevent the 
escape of the slaves, he formed the plan of destroying the power of 
Rome, and of taking revenge on the oppressors of mankind. The 
free population of southern Italy had already been very much thinned 
during the Social War, and the sad efifects of this now became visi- 
ble during the conflict with the slaves, who murdered without mercy 
and destroyed everything that came in their way. What saved 
Rome and Italy was the want of military discipline among the slaves 
and their irregular movements through the country. It was these 
circumstances that enabled the praetor M. Licinius Crassus, who, 
in B. c. 71, overtook the army of slaves in Lucania on the river 
Silarus, to gain a complete victory over them. Spartacus himself 
was killed, and this loss deprived the slaves of all hopes. Thou- 
sands were slain, and their bodies were partly impaled along the 
higu roads, and partly left unburied, to strike terror into their fel- 
lows. A body of about five thousand made their escape to the 
north of Italy, endeavouring to seek safety in Gaul; but they fell 
in with Pompey, who was just returning from Spain, and were com- 
pletely cut to pieces. 



THIRD WAR AGAINST MITHRIDATES. 359 

4. On his return to Rome, Pompey was rewarded for his victo- 
ries by the consulship for the year b. C. 70, during which, for the 
sake of increa^iue; his popularity, he displayed the greatest liberality 
towards the people, and assisted in abolishing the reforms of Sulla, 
After the expiration of his consulship he lived for a few years in 
retirement, enjoying his reputation and his wealth, until a new 
opportunity offered itself. For several years past all parts of the 
Mediterranean had been so much infested by pirates that it was 
scarcely safe for merchant vessels to sail from port to port. The 
pirates plundered the mai'itime towns, and even ventured to land in 
the very vicinity of Rome and destroy ships in the port of Ostia. 
They consisted chiefly of people that had become homeless in con- 
sequence of the Roman conquests in the East, and were driven to 
piracy by sheer misery and poverty; they had their strongholds 
and warehouses to deposit their plunder principally in Cilicia, on 
the south coast of Asia Minor. The Romans had been warring 
against them ever since the year B. c. 78, but no impression had 
been made on them ; and Rome itself was in constant danger of 
famine, as the necessary supplies could not be imported with safety. 
Under these circumstances the tribune Aulus Gabinius, in B. C. 67, 
proposed that Pompey should be invested for three years with the 
command of all the coasts of the Mediterranean to a considerable 
distance from the sea, and that he should be liberally provided with 
everything necessary to put an end to the war against the pirates. 
This measure was a dangerous one, and met with strong opposition, 
but the people readily consented to invest their favourite with all 
the powers and means demanded for him. His success more than 
justified their confidence, and the war which he now commenced, 
and which he gloriously terminated in about three months, is the 
most brilliant exploit of Pompey's whole life. He completely swept 
the Mediterranean from west to east, and drove the pirates into 
the Cilician sea, where he defeated them in a great battle; many 
of them were killed or taken prisoners, and the rest surrendered. 
He then took and destroyed their fortified places in Cilicia, and 
assigned settlements to the survivors, that they might be able to 
earn their livelihood without falling back upon their dangerous 
practices. 

5. After the termination of this war, Pompey did not return to 
Italy, but remained in Asia Minor, probably in the hope of being 
appointed, in his absence, commander in the third war against 
Mithridates of Pontus, in which Rome had already been engaged 
for some years j for he well knew that his friends at Rome would 
do anything to gratify him. In B. C. 74, Mithridates had been 
tempted by Sertorius to commence fresh hostilities against Rome. 
King Nicomedes of Bithynia had just died, and bequeathed his 
kingdom to the Romans. Mithridates refused to recognise this 



360 HISTORy OF ROME. 

bequest, and at once invaded Bithynia, while his fleet sailed out 
against that of the Romans. Havine; griined a victory at sea, the 
king laid siege to the wealthy and populous town of Cyzicus, which 
was in alliance with Rome. While this siege was going on, L. 
Lucullus arrived with an army in Asia, and succeeded in cutting 
off the king from all supplies of provisions, B. C. 73. This and 
some other losses which he sustained for the moment deprived 
Mithridates of all hope, and in his despair he fled to his sonin-law 
Tigranes, king of Armenia, while Lucullus entered the kingdom of 
Pontus and compelled the towns to surrender one after another. 
After the conquest of Pontus, Lucullus spent some time in Asia to 
regulate the aflQiirs of the conquered countries, which were inun- 
dated by greedy usurers and Roman officials. When at length 
Tigranes refused to surrender Mithridates, Lucullus, in B. c. 69, 
advanced against Tigranocerta, the capital of the Armenian king, 
near which he overpowered a vast army of Asiatics. Both kings 
took to flight, but Tigranes, who made an attempt to defend him- 
self, was defeated a second time near Artasata. Lucullus now made 
preparations to subdue the whole of Armenia, when a mutiny broke 
out in his army, which was headed by the notorious P. Clodius. 
Lucullus succeeded, indeed, in quelling the revolt, but Mithridates, 
availing himself of the favourable opportunity, efi"ected his return 
to his own kingdom. Lucullus pursued him, but owing to the 
mutinous spirit of his soldiers, he was scarcely able to finish the 
campaign in which he was engaged. Just at this time, B. c. 67, 
M. Acilius Glabrio was sent from Rome as successor to Lucullus, 
who was obliged to give up the command to him. This man did 
absolutely nothing, but allowed all the advantages gained by Lu- 
cullus to slip out of his hands, while Mithridates re-established 
himself in Pontus and Cappadocia. Lucullus, who was possessed 
of enormous wealth, returned to Italy, where his numerous palaces, 
villas, and parks formed rallying points for men of refined taste in 
art and literature. He is said to have introduced into Italy the 
cherry-tree from Cerasus, a town of Colchis. 

6. The inactivity of the Roman commander and the increasing 
power of Mithridates, afi"orded a welcome opportunity to the friends 
of Pompey who was still in Asia, of getting the command trans- 
ferred to him. Accordingly, in B. C. 66, the tribune Manilius 
brought forward a bill to this eflect. It was supported by Julius 
Caesar and Cicero, and Pompey was intrusted with additional 
powers in Asia Minor to enable him to bring the Mithridatic war 
to a close. Pompey, having received large reinforcements and ■ 
concluded an alliance with the Parthians, fought a battle by night 
against Mithridates on the banks of the Euphrates, in which the 
king was defeated and put to flight. Tigranes became a vassal of 
the Romafi republic, and Mithridates escaped into Colchis. After 



CN. POMPEY IN ASIA. 861 

having founded the town of Nicopolis, Pompcy, in B. c. 65, pursued 
the king, and victoriously traversed Albania and Iberia, about 
mount Caucasus ; but owing to the difficulties he had to contend 
with in those wild and remote countries, he gave up the pursuit of 
the enemy. The latter, still undismayed, formed the gigantic 
scheme of entering into alliances with the Scythians and invading 
Italy from the north-east. But his own son Pharnaces headed an 
insurrection of the soldiers against his father at Panticapaeum in 
the Crimea. Mithridates, to avoid falling into the hands of his 
enemies, took poison which for some time he had been carrying 
about with him, B. c. 63. Pompey, to whom the body was sent, 
ordered it to be buried with regal magnificence, but gave to the 
unnatural son of his great enemy, the sovereignty over the coun- 
tries about the Cimmerian Bosporus. 

_ 7. After having concluded peace with the Albanians and Ibe- 
rians, Pompey went to Syria, where he unceremoniously deposed 
king Antiochus XIII., and put an end to that effete kingdom, 
changing it, with Phoenicia, into the Roman province of Syria. 
In Asia Minor, Bithynia, with a part of Pontus, was likewise con- 
stituted as a province ; but Armenia Magna, the northern part of 
Pontus, Paphlagonia, Gralatia, and other countries, were given to 
tributary kings, who recognised the supremacy of Home. The same 
was done in Judaea, where, after taking the temple of Jerusalem, he 
appointed Hyrcanus tetrarch, taking his brother Aristobulus, who 
had bravely defended himself, with ^lis children, to Rome. Many 
Jews in their despair made away with themselves, throwing them- 
selves down from the walls, or setting fire to their houses. The 
real ruler of Judaea, however, was the Idumaean Antipater, the 
father of Herod, and a cunning supporter of the Roman interest. 
When all these arrangements were made, Pompey, in B.C. 62, 
quitted Asia, and returned to Italy, but did not arrive at Rome 
until the beginning of B. c. 61. He celebrated a most splendid 
triumph, and the sums which he handed over to the treasury were 
enormous. His popularity was immense, and he took the greatest 
care to impress the people with the notion that he was happy in the 
condition of a simple Roman citizen. His great ambition was to 
induce the senate to sanction the arrangements he had made in 
Asia ; and his vanity, therefore, was not a little wounded, when he 
found this desire opposed by men of the greatest influence. He 
felt so mortified that he resolved to abandon the optimates, and 
join the popular party, a step which ultimately led to his own ruin. 
8. Some time before Pompey's return to Italy, M. Tullius Cicero 
had been honoured by his f.llow-citizens with the name of father of 
his country. Cicero, born at Arpiuum in B. c. lOG, was the son of 
very respectable parents, and by his talent, industry, and irreproach- 
able conduct, had so much distinguished himself, that although a 
31 s . « 



862 HISTORY OF ROME. 

novua homo, he obtained in due time most of the great offices of the 
republic, iuid was in the end even raised to the consulship. He 
had studied at Athens and Rhodes, and had devoted himself with- 
such zeal to his pursuits, especially those of oratory and philosophy, 
that as an orator he was surpassed by none, and was the first who • 
successfully endeavoured to popularise the philosophical specula- 
tions of the Greeks among his countrymen. As a statesman he was 
less great, because his friendship for Pompey and Caesar led him 
often to act the part of a mediator between them, which led him 
into inconsistencies and contradictions. But his patriotism, his 
strong sense of justice, and his general virtues as a citizen, are ac- 
knowledged by all, and ought to make us judge leniently of his 
vanity and other foiVjlcs. In his consulship, b. c. 63, Catiline, a 
partizan of Sulla, and a man of patrician origin, but of most profli- 
gate character, and, like many others of his class, overwhelmed with 
debts, formed a conspiracy, which was joined by some reckless 
nobles of the highest rank, whose circumstances were so desperate 
that they saw no hope for themselves except in a revolution. Cati- 
line hadattempted similar things before, but had been thwarted by 
the vigilance of patriotic men, and by his own impatience. He and 
his associates now determined to murder Cicero, to set Ptoiue on 
fire, to overthrow the constitution, and in the midst of the confu- 
sion to usurp the reins of government, and, probably, to establish a 
military despotism. But the watchfulness of Cicero, whose four 
speeches against Catiline, distinguished alike for manly courage 
and spirited eloquence, we still possess, prevented the infamous 
scheme. Catiline, in spite of his cunning and power of dissimula- 
tion, was unmasked by the consul, and obliged to quit the city. 
The senate, on the proposal of Cicero and Cato, condemned Catiline 
and some of his associates who had remained at Rome. His accom 
plices were strangled in the Capitoline prison ; but Catiline him- 
self, who with the rest of his followers had escaped to the north of 
Etruria, was killed in the battle of Pistoria, where he and all his 
friends fought with a bravery and courage worthy of a better cause. 
Cicero's joy at having saved his country and his fellow-citizens from 
dire destruction did not last long, for many of the secret friends 
and supporters of Catiline remained at Rome longing for an oppor- 
tunity of taking vengeance upon the man who had so nobly defended 
his country's cause. 

9. Ever since the time of Marius and Sulla, the leading men at 
Rome made all possible efforts and sacrifices to gain popularity ; this 
popularity, however, was not sought after for the purpose of enabling 
them to serve the interests of their country, but to satisfy their own 
avarice and ambition, whence the history of that period down to the 
establishment of the empire is scarcely more than the personal his- 
tory of the men who endeavoured to eclipse one another. By far 



, p.cLODius. 363 

the most eminent and the most gifted among tbe men of this time, 
was C. Julius Caesar, born in B. C. 100; he was fast rising in po- 
puh\r favour, while Poinpey was reposing on his laurels, and enjoy- 
ing the fruits of his previous victories. Caesar, though unscrupu- 
lous in the application of the means to gain his ends, had a tho- 
roughly cultivated miud, and was indefatigable in his activity; he 
was no less great as an orator and an author than as a general and 
statesman. Julia, an aunt of his, had been married to C. Marius, 
for whom he always entertained great affection, whence in the time 
of Sulla his.very life was threatened. In B. c 65, he came forward 
as the avowed leader of the remnants of the Marian or popular party. 
His liberality was unbounded, and he became overwhelmed with 
debts, but a campaign against the revolted Lusitanians in Spain, in 
B. c. 61, enabled him to satisfy his creditors as well as his own ex- 
travagant wants. He obtained the consulship for B. c. 59, and in 
that year strengthened himself by a close alliance with Pompey, 
who had then renounced the party of the optimates, and by effect- 
ing a reconciliation between Pompey and Crassus. These three 
men, forming what is commonly called the first triumvirate, agreed 
that no political measures should be adopted which were displeasing 
to any one of them. Being at the head of the democratic party, 
they held the fate of the republic in their own hands. A number 
of popular measures were passed, such as an agrarian law, by which 
twenty thousand citizens received assignments of land. Caesar also 
prevailed upon the senate to sanction the arrangements made by 
Pompey in Asia. Having thus formed a powerful party for him- 
self, he caused the provinces of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul with 
Illyricum to be assigned to himself. 

10. After the expiration of his consulship, however, he did not 
proceed to his province at once, but remained in the neighbourhood 
of Rome with his army to support the unprincipled P. Clodius in 
his machinations against Cicero, who had offended Caesar. In B. c. 
61, Clodius had committed some sacreligious act for which he was 
brought to trial. Cicero then spoke against him, and provoked 
him on several other occasions. Clodius vowed vengeance, and 
after having caused himself to be adopted into a plebeian family, ob- 
tained, by the aid of Caesar, the tribuneship for B. C. 58. He first 
secured the favour of the multitude by several popular measures, 
and then carried a law that every one who had put to death a 
Roman citizen without a formal trial should be outlawed. This law 
was aimed at Cicero, who, on the authority of a mere decree of the 
senate, had caused some of the associates of Catiline to be strangled 
in prison. Cicero was abandoned by the triumvirs, who alone had 
it in their power to save him, and in order to escape condemnation 
went into exile. After this he was formally declared an outlaw, his 
house was burned down, and two of his villas were destroyed This 



364 HISTORY OF ROME. 

measure was followed by others of an equally atrocious character. 
In order to get rid of a troublesome critic at Home, Clodius sent 
Cato to Cyprus with orders to expel the king of the island, who was 
a brother of the king of Egypt, and to make Cyprus a Roman pro- 
vince. But no sooner had Clodius' tribuneship expired, than a 
reaction took place in the public mind, in consequence of which 
Cicero was recalled from exile, B. c. 57. Caesar had not departed 
for Gaul until the end of April, B. c. 58, when Clodius had gained 
his end. 

11. While Caesar was engaged in Gaul, which had bgen assigned 
to him for five years, things at Rome became worse and worse. In 
B. C. 55 Pompey and Crassus obtained the consulship, and a law 
was carried by which Caesar's governorship of Gaul was prolonged 
for other five years, while Pompey obtained Spain, and Crassus 
Syria. Pompey did not go to his province, but allowed it to be 
governed by his legates, while he himself remained at Rome, where 
he exercised a sort of dictatorial power; but Crassus, though ad- 
vanced in years, could not resist the temptation to go to Syria him- 
self, where he hoped to be able to satisfy his insatiable avarice. 
He robbed and plundered wherever he appeared, and in B. C. 54 
undertook an expedition against the Parthians, who had formed a 
powerful empire on the east of the Euphrates, and regarded them- 
selves as the successors of the ancient Persians. They were 
governed by the dynasty of the Arsacidae, and their king at this 
time was Orodes or Arsaces XIV., who Lad assembled a powerful 
army in Mesopotamia to oppose the Romans. Crassus, guided by 
a treacherous Arab, boldly crossed the Euphrates, but in a sandy 
desert near Carrhae he was defeated, taken prisoner, and killed, 
after his son had been put to death before his own eyes. The 
Roman army was nearly annihilated, and the whole camp and all the 
standards fell into the hands of the conquerors. The war against 
the Parthians, however, was continued for several years, after the 
remnants of the army of Crassus had been led back to Syria by the 
brave legate C. Cassius. 

12. At the time when Caesar undertook the conquest of Gaul, 
the whole country between the Rhine and the Atlantic was inha- 
bited by a number of Celtic tribes, the south- western part, called 
Aquitania, alone being occupied by Iberians. On the eastern fron- 
tier the Germans had already commenced making encroachments. 
The southern part of Gaul, that is, the country about the mouth of 
the Rhone, had been conquered by the Romans as early as B. c. 
126, and a few years later the towns of Aquae Sextiae (Aix) and 
Narbo Marcius (Narbonne) were founded. This part of Gaul was 
constituted a Roman province (whence its modern name Provence), 
and the Greek colony of Massilia was the means of spreading civili- 
sation not only over the coast districts, but over the whole of Gaul. 



Q A U L . 865 

Among the numerous Celtic tribes, one, such as the Arverni, Se- 
quani, and ^dui, appears always to have exercised a kind of supre- 
macy over the rest, though this did not produce any political union 
among them. Tlieir common characteristics, however, were, that 
they were governed by a chivalrous kind of nobility, and by a pow- 
erful priesthood called Druids, while the great body of the nation 
were little better than serfs. The people were skilled in several of 
the arts of civilised life, and in many parts lived together in towns; 
but they were fierce and warlike, and, urged on by their priests and 
bards, rushed into battle with great vehemence, though they were 
wanting in perseverance. Caesar undertook the conquest of the 
whole country, for which its invasion by the Germans, and a migra- 
tion of the Helvetii, likewise a Celtic people, aflforded a welcome 
pretext. 

13. The Helvetii had just at that time been tempted to quit their 
own poor and unproductive country, and seek new homes in the 
south-western parts of Gaul. Caesar, apprehending great danger to 
the Roman province from this migration, attacked and defeated first 
one numerous clan of the nation, and soon after the remainder in a 
great battle near Bibracte. These disasters obliged the Helvetii to 
return to their own devastated country, on quitting which they had 
burned and destroyed everything. About fourteen years before 
this time the Germans under Ariovistus had crossed the Rhine, hav- 
ing been invited by the Sequani to assist them against the ^dui. 
Ariovistus had repeatedly defeated the JEdui, and had compelled 
even the Sequani to give up to him one-third of their country; in 
consequence of which large numbers of Germans had taken up their 
abode in Gaul. At the request of the ^dui, Caesar now attacked 
the Germans, and having completely defeated them in a pitched 
battle near Vesontio, he compelled Ariovistus with the remainder 
of his army to retrace his steps across the Rhine. In B. c. 57, Cae- 
sar was successful against the Belgae in the north of Gaul, who had 
formed themselves into a confederacy, and now took up arms against 
the Roman invaders. He managed to prevent their union, and 
defeated the several tribes one after another. In the following 
year he subdued the people in the north-west of Gaul. 

14. By these repeated losses, the strength of Gaul was nearly 
broken, and Caesar now turned against two German tribes, the Usi- 
petes and Tenchteri, who had crossed the Rhine, near its mouth, 
with the intention of .-ettling in Gaul. The unfortunate barbarians, 
trusting to the honesty of the Roman proconsul, were treacherously 
attacked and butchered, while the negotiations for peace were going 
on After this Caesar returned southward, and crossed the Rhine, 
by a wooden bridge of his own construction, in the neighbourhood of 
Neuwied; his object was probably to strike terror into the Germans; 
for after having ravaged their country, which was thickly covered 

31* 



366 HISTORY OF ROME. 

with forests, he returned to Gaul, and broke down the bridge. In 
the same summer, B. C. 55, he also made an expedition into Britain, 
which, like Gaul, was inhabited by Celts. He landed, after a vigo- 
rous resistance, on the coast of Kent, and some of the British tribes 
offered to submit to him, but on being informed of his fleet having 
sustained a great loss at sea, they took up arms to repel the invader. 
Being defeated, however, they were obliged to submit to Caesar, 
who, immediately after his victory, was compelled by the late season 
of the year, to return to Gaul. In B. c. 54, he invaded Britain a 
second time; the natives, under their chief Cassivelaunus, fought 
bravely, but were defeated several times, and Caesar conquered the 
greater part of Essex and Middlesex. Peace was then concluded, 
and the Britons having promised to pay a fixed annual tribute, and 
given hostages, Caesar returned to Gaul. But as he could not 
afford to leave any troops behind in the island, these promises were 
soon forgotten and neglected. 

15. In B. c. 53, several of the Gallic tribes formed a confederacy 
to recover their independence, and were supported by some Ger- 
mans who had come across the Rhine. But the insurgents were 
subdued, and Caesar pursued the Germans across the Hhine, where 
they found shelter in their forests and marshes, into which Caesar 
could not follow them with safety. The cruelty with which Caesar 
treated the leaders of the Gallic tribes which had risen in arms, at 
length set the whole of Gaul in a blaze. Even the j35dui, who had 
hitherto been the steady friends of the Romans, joined the insurrec- 
tion, and the Arvernian Vercingetorix was the soul of the whole 
undertaking. The war in Gaul now assumed a more formidable 
aspect than ever. After various enterprises, Vercingetorix retreated 
to Alesia in Burgundy. Caesar laid siege to the town, which was 
believed to be impregnable ; he himself was surrounded by swarms 
of Gauls, and his position was perilous in the highest degree, but 
his genius overcame every obstacle, and, in B. o. 52, Alesia was 
compelled by famine to surrender. The fall of this town virtually 
decided the fate of Gaul, though some tribes still continued in arms. 
They were reduced, however, in the course of B. c. 51, when the 
Belgae also began to stir; but it was now too late. Caesar, having 
subdued the Belgae, all Gaul, and the Helvetii, returned in b. c. 50 
to Cisalpine Gaul, leaving his army in the country beyond the Alps. 
His men were attached to him in the highest degree, and his extra- 
ordinary exploits in Gaul had excited universal admiration of his 
genius and skill. 

16. While Caesar was engaged in Gaul, Pompey had en- 
deavoured, by every means, to increase his popularity ; his marriage 
with Caesar's daughter Julia for a time served as a bon.d of union 
between the two ambitious men ; but her death, in B. c. 54, rent 
f sunder the tie, and the fall of Crassus in Mesopotamia in B. c. 53 



CAESAR CROSSES THE RUBICON. 367 

left the Roman empire tlie bone of contention between Caesar and 
Pompey. Caesar bad kt'pt up an active correspondence with his 
friends at Rome, and considerable apprehensions prevailed in the city 
in consequence of the turbulent and riotous proceedings of his par- 
tizans, such as Clodius, C. Curio, and others, who received enormous 
bribes from Gaul. In B. c. 52, Pompey was for a time sole consul, 
until he chose Metellus Scipio, his father-in-law, for his colleague. 
The aristocracy again began to look upon Pompey as their only safe- 
guard against the machinations of Caesar. In B. c. 51, Claudius 
JMarcellus, one of the leading optimates, proposed that Caesar 
should be recalled from Gaul, and a successor appointed ; no oppor- 
tunity was, in fact, overlooked for hurting or insulting him. In 
B.C. 50 the consulship was in the hands of two aristocrats j but 
Caesar by his bribes succeeded in gaining over some of the leading 
men. The time had now come when the optimates thought it right 
to resort to energetic measures, and although the proconsulship of 
Caesar had not yet expired, the senate, on the proposal of Metellus 
Scipio, passed a decree pei'emptorily demanding of him to disband 
his army by a certain day, and declaring him a pliblic enemy, in 
case he should refuse compliance. Two tribunes, M. Antonius and 
Q. Cassius, who had in vain opposed the decree, and demanded that 
Pompey should likewise resign his power and disband his armies, 
fled to Caesar, who was stationed at Ravenna in Cisalpine Gaul 
with only a small part of his forces ; they called upon him to come 
to Rome as the avenger of the tribunician power, which had been 
trodden under foot by his adversaries. Pompey was full of confi- 
fidence that he would be successful in the ensuing struggle, and 
the optimates entertained the same feelings, so that even the most 
necessary precautions were neglected. But recklessness and foolish 
conceit found out too soon that they had miscalculated. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CIVIL WAR BETWEEN POMPEY AND CAESAR, AND THE SUB- 
SEQUENT EVENTS DOWN TO THE BATTLE OP ACTIUM. 

1. The arrival of the tribunes before Caesar at Ravenna, in B. c. 
49, was a decisive moment, and after a short hesitation, as to whe- 
ther he should cross the little stream Rubicon, which separated 
Cisalpine Gaul from Italy, he called out, " The die is cast I" and 
crossed the river with a small force, having sent orders to Gaul for 
the other legions to follow him. Accompanied by his faithful vete- 



368 HISTORY OF ROME. 

rans, he hastened rapidly through Umbria and the Sahellian dis« 
tricts, to prevent his adversaries completing their preparations before 
his arrival. His renown went before him, his kindness and affa- 
bility won the hearts of all, and the gates of the towns on his route 
were thrown open to him. Pompey, who had been roused too late 
from his feeling of security, did not venture to await the enemy's 
arrival at Rome, but with newly enlisted and untrained recruits, a 
few trustworthy soldiers, and a large number of senators and opti- 
mates, fled to Brundusium ; and when Caesar approached that port, 
Pompey and his retinue sailed across to Epirus. His vaunting 
boast, that he need only stamp upon the ground with his foot to 
call forth legions, had all its emptiness now fully proved. After his 
departure, all Italy joined Caesar, who now returned to Rome, where 
he acted with great mildness, though showing in every thing that 
he regarded himself as the real sovereign of the state. He took 
possession of the treasury, and, leaving Pompey for the present to 
his fate, immediately set out for Spain against Pompey's lieutenants 
and armies. By his surpassing talent as a commander, and the 
astonishing rapidity of his movements, he drove them into svich 
straits that, after most of their troops had deserted, they were com- 
pelled to surrender. Afranius and Petreius, the legates, were dis- 
missed unhurt, and the remnant of the army was disbanded. On 
his return from Spain, Caesar had to compel Massilia, which desired 
to remain neutral, to side with him ; the city was taken, but treated 
with great mildness. In the meantime, C. Curio had taken posses- 
sion of Sicily, the Pompeian party having evacuated it, but in an 
attempt to conquer Africa also, he was killed. 

2. While yet engaged at Massilia, Caesar was made dictator; as 
such he returned to Rome, but in order not to alarm the republicans 
too much, he caused himself to be elected consul for B. c. 48, and 
laid down the dictatorship. He then passed several measures to 
restore order and tranquillity to the city ; he extended the franchise 
to Cisalpine Gaul, reduced debts, and restored exiles and the chil- 
dren of those who had been proscribed by Sulla. His stay at Rome 
was very brief; and as soon as the necessary preparations were 
made, he crossed the Adriatic from Brundusium in pursuit of 
Pompey, B. c. 48. Pompey had not been inactive, but had col- 
lected troops, ships, and supplies from all parts of the East, so that 
in point of numbers he had the advantage over Caesar. The latter 
besieged his enemy at Dyrrhachium, but with so little success that 
he almost despaired ; instead, however, of giving way to this feel- 
ing, he boldly marched from the coast towards Thessaly, where 
every inch of ground had to be conquered. Pompey's former con- 
fidence now returned, and imagining that his enemy had taken to 
flight, he followed him with all speed, hoping to annihilate him at 
one blow. Caesar pitched his camp near Pbarsalus, and Pompey, 



BATTLE OF PHARSALUS. 369 

being urged on by the inexperiencctl nobles, fought the decisive 
battle of Pharsalus on the 9th of August, B. c. 48. Hi^ army was 
completely defeated, though it was twice as numerous as that of 
his opponent, and the camp, filled with treasures and luxuries of 
every kind, fell into the hands of the conquerors. Pompey, having 
now lost all hope, fled to Lesbos, and thence to Egypt, where he 
had reason to expect a hospitable reception ; but young Ptolemy 
Bionysius, the king of Egypt, in the hope of securing the favour 
of Caesar, ordered him to be murdered even before he reached the 
shore, and his body was left unburied on the beach. 

3. A few days after this tragic end of Pompey, Caesar arrived 
with a small force in Egypt, and the sad fate of his rival is said to 
have brought tears into his eyes. The author of the murder did 
not receive the expected reward, and being called vipon to act as 
mediator between the young king and his sister Cleopatra, who by 
their father's request ought to have reigned in common, Caesar 
decided in favour of the beautiful and fascinating Cleopatra. This 
decision involved him in a war with the young king and the people 
of Alexandria; for a time he was exposed to very great danger, as 
he had only few troops with him. With wonderful skill and adroit- 
ness he defended himself in the royal palace against the infuriated 
and demoralised populace, and when the palace was set on fire, he 
escaped by swimming to a ship lying at anchor. But when his 
reinforcements arrived he compelled Alexandria to surrender, and 
as the young king had been drowned in the Nile during the dis- 
turbances, he restored Cleopatra to the throne, and spent nine 
months with her, during which time he appears to have forgotten 
everything in the luxuries of the Alexandrian court. At length 
he received information that Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, had 
availed himself of the civil war among the Romans for the purpose 
of extending his kingdom, and that one of the Roman legates had 
been defeated by him. Accordingly, in the spring of B. c. 47, he 
marched through Syria into Poutus, and defeated the Asiatics in a 
decisive battle near Zela. This victory is celebrated on account 
of the laconic despatch which Caesar sent to Rome regarding it, 
" I came, saw, conquered" {yeni, vidi, via). Pharnaces lost all 
his conquests, and was soon afterwards murdered by one of his own 
subjects. 

4. Soon after this he was informed of disturbances at Rome, in 
consequence of which he hastened back. He arrived in the city in 
the autumn of B. c. 47. After the battle of Pharsalus, the enthu- 
siasm of the senate and people at Rome was so great that the most 
extraordinary honours and powers were conferred upon him, which 
in reality made him the sole ruler of the republic. This was in some 
measure the result of his unexpected mildness towards his conquered 
enemies. During his absence in the East, the partizans of Pompey 



370 HISTORY OF ROME. 

had been active in collecting their scattered forces in Africa, where 
tliey were supported by Juba, king of Nuinidia. In Rome quarrels 
had broken out between his own friends M. Antony and Dolabella, 
a profligate young man, and bloody riots had taken place in conse- 
quence. Caesar being anxious to bring the war against the Pom- 
peians to a close, confined himself at Rome to conciliatory measures, 
rewarding his friends by increasing the number of praetors, quaes- 
tors, aediles, and of the members of the priestly colleges, by making 
liberal promises to the soldiers, and stirring up their military ambi- 
tion. When all these matters were settled, he set out at the end 
of B. C. 47 for Africa, and very soon afterwards the bloody battle of 
Thapsus, in B. c. 46, decided the fate of the Pompeian party for a 
time ] fifty thousand dead covered the field of battle, and many of 
the survivors made away with themselves ; among these latter were 
Pompey's own father-in-law Metellus Scipio, the Numidian king 
Juba, whose kingdom became a Roman province, the warlike 
Petreius, and the stern Cato, who with stoic calmness put an end 
to his own life at Utica. But the two sons of Pompey, Cneius 
and Sextus, escaped to Spain, where somewhat later they stirred up 
a fresh war. 

5. Caesar was now the sole master of the Roman world, and on 
his return to Rome silenced all fears and apprehensions by pro- 
claiming a general amnesty, and assuring the senate and people 
that his great object was the restoration of peace and order. He 
celebrated at once four triumphs, carefully avoiding hurting any 
one's feelings, and amused both soldiers and citizens with every 
kind of public amusements. During his stay at Rome, B. c. 46, 
Caesar, in his capacity of pontifex maximus, introduced his cele- 
brated reform of the calendar, which, owing to the ignorance or 
caprice of the pontifis, had fallen into such disorder, that it was 
three months in advance of the real time. Caesar remedied the 
actual evil, and made regulations to prevent its recurrence, which 
were observed until, in A. D. 1582, Pope Gregory XIII. introduced 
another reform. While Caesar was thus peacefully and usefully 
employed at Rome, he was informed that the sons of Pompey had 
collected a fresh army in Spain, and that the whole of the southern 
part of that country was in a state of insurrection. Towards the 
end of B. c. 46, he set out for Spain, to face his enemies in their 
last and desperate struggle. His difficulties were very great, and 
it was only his undaunted courage and perseverance that enabled 
him to overcome them. The fearful battle of Munda, in the spring 
of B. c. 45, decided the fate of the Pompeian party for ever. Cneius, 
one of the two brothers, was killed after the fight while attempting 
to make his escape ; but Sextus fled from the field, and for some 
years after this led the life of a robber ami pirate chief 

6. On his return to Rome Caesar celebrated a triumph over the 



MURDER OF CAESAR. 371 

Pompeians, and was received by the senate with the most abject 
flattery and servility. Distinctions of every kind were literally 
showered upon him; he was called " father of his country;" tlie 
month of Quintilis, in which he was born, was called after him 
Julius (July) ; the powers which he had gradually received were 
conferred on him for life; he received the permanent title of impe- 
-ator, the consulship for the next ten years, and the offices of 
lictator and praefectus moruni for life. These and many other 
powers and distinctions virtually made Caesar the acknowledged 
ruler of the Roman world, and nothing but the outward signs of 
absolute sovereignty were wanting. But however much he endea- 
voured, by observing the ancient forms, to allay the fears of the 
republicans, and however much he tried to pacify the wealthy and 
noble by increasing the number of senators, and to satisfy the sol- 
diers by the distribution of lands — however much he did to improve 
the laws and their administration, to raise commerce and agricul- 
ture, to embellish the city with temples and theatres, and to benefit 
Italy by making roads, canals, and harbours, he could not make the 
people forget that they had been free ; it was evident to them that 
he was not satisfied with the substance of sovereign power, but also 
aimed at the outward marks and distinctions of a monarch. There 
still existed many deluded enthusiasts who imagined that it was 
possible to maintain the republic, and that, by preserving the 
ancient forms, the spirit of freedom might be revived. Besides 
these there were many, also, who, although they had received 
from Caesar posts of honour and distinction, yet thought them- 
selves slighted and neglected, and secretly plotted against him. 
The increasing pride of the dictator, and his too obvious desire to 
obtain the title of king, at length induced the republicans to make 
common cause with his personal enemies. A conspiracy was 
formed against his life in the beginning of B. o. 44 ; it was headed 
by M. Junius Brutus, a genuine though deluded republican, and 
C. Cassius, who bore a personal grudge against Caesar. Both had 
been partizans of Potnpey, but had nevertheless been raised by 
Caesar to the praetorship, and had been treated by him with kind 
ness and confidence; but all considerations of a private nature were 
set aside under the specious pretext that the liberty of their country 
had higher claims upon them. The plan for the murder of Caesar 
was formed with the greatest caution and secrecy. On the ides 
(the 15th) of March B. c. 44, Caesar convened a meeting of the 
senate in the curia of Pompey, for the purpose of receiving the title 
of king out of Italy, to enable him, under this designation, to under- 
take a war against the Parthians. That day was fixed upon by the 
conspirators for carrying out their design. He was attacked at the 
meeting of the senate, and sank overwhelmed by the daggers of his 
assailants. At fii'st he made an attempt to defend himself, but 



372 HISTORY or rome. 

perceiving Brutus among his murderers, he exclaimed, '^ You, too, 
Brutus ?" wrapped himself up in his toga, and sank at the base of 
Pompey's statue. Thus fell the only man that was then both able 
and willing to save Rome from internal war and bloodshed, and 
whose reign might have become the beginning of a happy and 
prosperous era in Roman history. But the cup of suffering for 
Rome was not yet full. 

7. The conspirators soon found to their own cost, that it is more 
easy to destroy than to build up ; of the latter, they had in fact 
scarcely thought, and were not a little alarmed by the discovery, 
that the slight enthusiasm produced by the murder gave way to 
hatred and detestation, when the crafty M. Antony in his funeral 
oration over the body of Caesar, set forth his great merits and his 
many excellent qualities, and mentioned the liberal bequests and 
donations which he had made in his will to the people. The 
multitude became infuriated, and the murderers were obliged to 
take to flight. Decimus Brutus went to his province of Cisalpine 
Gaul, and M. Brutus and Cassius proceeded to the East, where 
provinces had previously been assigned to them. After they had 
gone, Antony caused Cisalpine Gaul to be transferred to himself, 
and proceeded at once with an army to Mutina to expel D. Brutus, 
who had taken up his position in that city. The senate, being in 
the meantime stirred up by Cicero, invested C. Julius Caesar 
Octavianus, the adopted son and heir of Caesar, who was only 
nineteen years old, and had come over from Apollonia, with the 
powers of a jDraetor; and as many of the veterans of Antony 
joined the young avenger of Caesar, Octavianus was sent along 
with the consuls of B. c. 43, A. Hirtius and Vibius Pansa, to the 
north of Italy, to prevent Antony, who had in the meantime been 
declared a public enemy, from gaining his object. Antony, being 
defeated in this war by the armies of his opponents, fled across the 
Alps into Gaul, where he was favourably received by the governor 
Lepidus. As the two consuls had been killed in the war, and the 
senate conferred the command of its armies on D. Brutus, Octa- 
vianus, exasperated at the slight, compelled the senate to allow him 
to be elected to the consulship in spite of his youth. A law was 
passed, declaring all the murderers of Caesar outlaws, and Octa- 
vianus then marched with his army to the north. D. Brutus took 
to flight, and was murdered at Aquileia, while Lepidus and 
Antony, against whom the decree of outlawry was repealed, 
returned to Italy. 

8. A conference then took place between Octavianus, Antony, 
and Lepidus, in the neighbourhood of Bononia, at which the three 
assumed the title of triumvirs for regulating the affairs of the re- 
public (triumviri rci 2^uhlicae const ituendae), and distributed the 
provinces among themselves. Octavianus received Africa, Sicily, 



BRUTUS AND CASSIUS. 373 

and Sardinia, Antony Gaul, and Lepidus Spain, and Antony and 
Lcpidiis undertook to carry on the war against Brutus and Cassius 
in tht3 East. Tlae triumvirs then, to rid themselves of all their 
enemies and opponents, adopted the plan of Sulla, and drew up a 
proscription list, in which each entered the names of those specially 
obnoxious to himself. This proscription, ostensibly directed 
against their political opponents, was, in point of fact, a legalised 
wholesale murder of wealthy persons, whose property was in many 
instances the sole reason why their names appeared among the 
proscribed. The triumvirs entered Rome at the head of "their 
armies, compelled the people to sanction their arrangements, and 
then let loose the soldiery upon the devoted victims. The most 
illustrious and patriotic men fell under the strokes of the rapacious 
and reckless soldiers; all the ties of blood and of friendship were 
rent asunder, nothing was sacred, and murder was the order of the 
day. Two thousand equites and three hundred senators were 
massacred, and those who could make their escape fled to Brutus 
and Cassius, or to Sextus Pompeius, who had returned from Spain 
and made himself master of Sicily. The great orator Cicero, who 
had looked upon Octaviauus as the champion of the republic and 
supported him on all occasions, was one of the many victims who 
fell during this time : he was murdered on the 7th of December 
B. C. 43, and Antony's wife Fulvia feasted her eyes on the dead 
features when his head was brought to her. 

9. When the triumvirs had sufficiently punished Italy by 
murder, confiscation, and extortion, Octavianus and Antony sailed 
over to Greece to make war against Brutus and Cassius. Shortly 
after quitting Italy, Brutus had gone to his province of Macedonia, 
where he was recognised as the rightful governor, and where in a 
short time he was amply provided with everything necessary to 
carry on a war against his enemies. Cassius had in the meantime 
displayed great vigour in Syria and Asia Minor; the two re- 
publican chiefs were in point of fact masters of all the countries 
to the east of the Adriatic, and at a meeting in Sardes they agreed 
to operate together against their common enemies. But while they 
were preparing themselves, Octavianus and Antony had already 
made themselves masters of Greece, and taken up their quarters at 
Amphipolis. The republicans pitched their camp in the neigh- 
bourhood of Philippi, and in the first battle Cassius was obliged to 
retreat before Antony, while Brutus succeeded in repelling the 
legions of Octavianus, who is said to have been ill on the occasion. 
Soon after, Cassius, deceived by erroneous information, threw him- 
self on his own sword, and when, twenty days after the first battle, 
the triumvirs renewed the contest with fresh vigour, Brutus was 
also defeated, and made away v/ith himself. Many other re- 
publicans followed his example; but most of the soldiers sur 



374 HISTORY OF ROME. 

rendered to the triumvirs, while others fled to Sext. Pompeius in 
Sicily. The battles of Pbilippi, which were fought in the autumn 
of B. c. 42, were the death-blow of the republic, and Brutus and 
Cassius have often been called " the last of the Romans." 

10. The conquerors now again divided the empire among them- 
selves; Lepidus obtained Africa, and Antony the eastern pro- 
vinces, while Octavianus returned to Italy to satisfy his greedy 
and rapacious soldiers by the distribution of lands and the esta- 
blishment of military colonies. Antony, intoxicated by the 
incense of the Greeks and the luxuries of Asia, began a senseless 
and voluptuous career in the East. The sums he extorted in 
Asia^were lavished upon the coquettish and dissolute Cleopatra, 
queen of Egypt. His wife Fulvia, who loved him with all the 
passion of her passionate nature, scrupled at nothing which seemed 
to her likely to effect his return and secure to him the possession 
of the western world. The misery and wretchedness into which 
thousands of Italians were thrown in consequence of the establish- 
ment of military colonies, afforded a fair pretext for Fulvia and L. 
Antonius, her husband's brother, to come forward as the protectors 
of the suffering and oppressed. L. Antonius was consul in B. c. 
41, and proclaiming himself the friend of the poor and distressed, 
he, with Fulvia and others, established themselves at Perusia in 
Etruria, where large numbers of malcontents gathered around 
them. Towards the end of B. C. 41, Octavianus proceeded to 
blockade the rebels with three armies; and when at length the 
besieged began to suffer from famine and found it impossible to 
escape, L. Antonius capitulated, and Fulvia was set free on con- 
dition of her quitting Italy ; but all the senators of Perusia were 
put to death, and upwards of three hundred of its most illustrious 
citizens were sacrificed on the 15th of March B. c. 40 at the altar 
of Julius Caesar. The ancient town of Perusia itself was reduced 
to a heap of ashes. Fulvia went to Greece, where she met Antony, 
but soon after died at Sicyon. 

11. The war of Perusia nearly produced a struggle between An- 
tony and Octavianus, for the former actually advanced with his 
fleet to Brundusium, and prevailed on Sext. Pompeius to co-operate 
with mm; but a i-econciliation was brought about, and Sext. Pom- 
peius, betrayed by Antony, was declared the common enemy of the 
triumvirs. Pompeius now continued his former piratical practices, 
infesting the coasts of Italy and preventing supplies of grain from 
being imported from abroad, in consequence of which Home was 
often suffering from scarcity of provisions. The people therefore 
complained loudly, demanding of the triumvirs to come to some 
understanding with him. A peace accordingly was concluded at 
Misenum in B. c. 39, in which Pompeius obtained proconsular power 
over Sicily and several other provinces. Antony, who ever since 



ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 375 

the treaty of Brundusium had been at Rome, now married the noble 
Octavia, sister of Octavianus, and then went to Greece, where for a 
time he lived as a private person. Pompcius, who felt himself 
wronged by Anton}^ did not altogether abstain from piracy, and 
this afforded Octavianus a welcome pretext for undertaking a war 
against him. It was commenced in B. c 38, and at first the trium- 
vir was not very successful ; but in B. c. 36, he appointed his friend 
Agi'ippa commander-in-chief of the whole fleet. The island was 
then surrounded, but although Agrippa was supported by the fleets 
of Antony and Lepidus, no decisive impression was made until the 
great battle of Mylae, in which Pompeius was completely defeated. 
His land army surrendered, and he himself escaped with a few ships 
to Asia, where soon after he was murdered. Lepidus now claimed 
Sicily for himself, but as he was not a man of much influence or 
spirit, Octavianus unceremoniously commanded his soldiers to join 
him, and Lepidus was sent to Rome, where he enjoyed the empty 
honour of chief pontiff" until his death in B. c. 12. 

12. Even before the treaty of Brundusium, in B. C. 40, a war 
had broken out with the Parthians, who had made inroads into 
Syria. At first the war against them was conducted successfully 
by Antony's lieutenants; in B. C. 37, Octavia returned to Italy, and 
Antony hastened to Syria to undertake -the command against the 
Pai'thians in person. He had a large army, and was allied with 
Artavasdes, king of Armenia. But his plans were ill laid, and the 
Parthian king Phraates, attacking him in Media, nearly annihilated 
his legions, and obtained possession of all his ammunition and pro- 
visions. Antony himself narrowly escaped the fate of Crassus. 
After having brought this disgrace upon himself and the Roman 
arms, he returned to Alexandria, where he forgot himself and 
everything else in the sensual pleasures of the court. He gave to 
Cleopatra Coelo-Syria, Judaea and Cyprus, to which in B. c. 34 he 
added Armenia, whose king was taken prisoner. He even forgot 
himself so far as to celebrate a triumph at Alexandria, and soon 
after divorced the noble Octavia, who had acted with the greatest 
forbearance towards him, and had often prevented a rupture between 
her brother and her husband. Octavianus and his sister were now 
in the position of the injured party, and all became ashamed of 
Antony's conduct in the East. At last, in B. c. 32, war was de- 
clared against the queen of Egypt, and in the spring of the follow- 
ing year, the fleet of Octavianus, under the able command of 
Agrippa, spread over the whole of the Adriatic, while Octavianus 
himself with his legions landed in Epirus. 

13. Antony, accompanied by Cleopatra, sailed leisurely to Cor- 
cyra, where his forces were assembled. On the 2d of September, 
B. C. 31, the memorable sea-fight off" the promontory of Actium in 
Acarnania took place : its issue was at first doubtful, but Cleopatra 



376 HISTORY OF ROME. 

soon losing courage took to flight; Antony followed her, and hoth 
together returned to Alexandria, leaving their fleet and army to 
their fate. The fleet was soon destroyed by Agrippa, and when the 
land forces found that their commander had abandoned them, they 
surrendered to Octavianus. The town of Nicopolis opposite Actiuiu 
was afterwards built to commemorate this victory, and the modera- 
tion displayed by Octavianus towards the vanquished excited gene- 
ral admiration. Soon after his victory, Octavianus followed his con- 
quered enemies to Alexandria. Cleopatra made an attempt to see 
whether she could not charm her conqueror as she had charmed 
Caesar and Antony; but it was all in vain. Antony being prema- 
turely informed of the death of his mistress, threw himself upon bis 
sword, B. c. 30, and Cleopatra soon after made away with herself, 
by putting a viper to her breast, that she might not be compelled 
to adorn as a captive the triumph of her conqueror. Egypt, where 
the race of the Ptolemies was now extinct, was made a Roman pro- 
vince. In the spring of b. c. 29, Octavianus returned to Rome, 
where the temple of Janus was closed, as a sign that peace was 
restored throughout the empire, of which Octavianus was now the 
sole master. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE REIGN OF AUGUSTUS. 

1. If we consider the state of political and social morality of the 
Romans at the time, and the fearful convulsions through which they 
had passed ever since the days of Sulla, it must be owned that it 
was a real blessing for the empire to have fallen at length under the 
sway of one who, though neither so great nor so noble-minded as 
Caesar, yet had the desire to restore order, peace, and prosperity to 
his country. On the whole it seems that the greater part of the 
Romans, and many even of those who had fought under the banner 
of the republic, had arrived at the conviction that the republic was 
irrecoverably gone, and that its restoration was not even desirable. 
Octavianus, however, was very careful in preserving the ancient 
republican forms, such as the meetings of the comitia and of the 
senate, while, on the other hand, he avoided with equal care such 
titles as " king," which had always been detested by the Ronians, 
and " dictator," which had been abolished for ever after the murder 
of Caesar. As far as outward appearance was concerned, Octavia- 
nus, notwithstanding the extraordinary powers conferred upon him, 



REIGN OF AUGUSTUS. 377 

■«vas no more than a republican magistrate. The Roman populace 
had come to regard republican freedom with indifference, and were 
satisfied if plentifully provided with bread and amusements (^panis 
et circenses.^ 

2. On the I'eturn of Octavianus from the East, B. c. 29, he was 
overwhelmed by the adulation and servility of both the senate and 
people. Two years later he received the novel title of " Augustus," 
that is, " the Venerable," which was afterwards assumed by all the 
Roman emperors. To it was added the title of " Imperator," or 
empemr, for ten years, by virtue of which he had the supreme com- 
n«and over all the armies, and which was subsequently renewed 
from time to time. In B. c. 23, he was invested with the tribuni- 
cian power for life, whereby his person became sacred and invio- 
lable ; at the same time he obtained the tribunician veto, as well as 
the right to convene the senate whenever he pleased. In like man- 
ner he acquired the office of censor, and proconsular power in all 
the provinces. In the course of a few years he thus concentrated 
in his own person all the powers which had formerly belonged to 
the several republican magistrates ; but the consulship and the other 
magistracies were nominally left to others, and continued to be 
looked upon as high honours down to the overthrow of the empire. 
In his capacity of censor, Augustus directed his attention first to 
the purification of the senate by excluding unworthy members, and 
reducing its number to six hundred. The senate gradually became 
a sort of state council and supreme court of justice for all cases in 
which the majesty of the emperor was violated. Augustus had no 
ministers of state in our sense of the term, but he was assisted and 
supported by a number of able friends, such as Agrippa, Maecenas, 
Valerius Messalla, and Asinius Pollio. 

3. In regard to the internal administration, Augustus bestowed 
particular care upon the safety of life and property in the city of 
Rome, which had before been little better than a den of robbers. 
With this view he divided the city and its suburbs into fourteen 
regions, and the whole of Italy into a number of districts or pro- 
vinces. For himself he established a numerous body-guard of ten 
praetorian cohorts ; three of which were stationed in the city, and 
the rest in diiferent parts of Italy, until, in the reign of Tiberius, 
they were all collected in a fortified camp near Rome, called the 
casfra j-traetoria. Augustus also made several useful and necessary 
regulations concerning the administration of the provinces, the 
number of which then amounted to twenty-five. In B. C. 27, they 
were divided between himself and the senate, that is, into p7-ovmciae 
senatoriae or popidi, and 2)rovinctae Caesareae — the empei'or reserv- 
ing for himself those which were not completely subdued, and 
required the presence of a military force, and for these the emperor 
himself appointed the governors. Under the control of Augustus 

32* 



378 HISTORY OF ROME. 

the administration of the provinces was conducted much more 
fairly and honourably than had been the case during the last cen- 
tury of the republic. The two classes of the provinces also ren- 
dered necessary a division of the revenues derived from them ; the 
revenues of the senatorial provinces went into the ae'i'ariura or state | 
treasury, while those obtained from the imperial provinces went 
into the treasury of the emperor, called ih^. fisnis. 

4. Augustus also bestowed great attention upon the moral and 
social improvement of his people, by encouraging marriage and pun- 
ishing adultery, and nothing was neglected which tended to increase 
the material prosperity of his subjects. He hoped much, also, from 
a revival of the ancient piety and religious worship of the Romans ; 
but these and many other things are of such a nature that laws, 
however well meant, must remain inefficient so long as the spirit of 
the people is not improved ; and this can be the work only of time 
and long perseverance. Notwithstanding the mildness with which 
Augustus ruled, and the anxiety he displayed to conceal the fact 
that he was the real sovereign, conspiracies against his life broke out 
from time to time ; and these evidences of secret enemies intimi- 
dated him so much, that during the latter part of his reign he always 
took precaution against any sudden attack. 

5. Augustus, throughout his long reign, was more concerned 
about securing the frontiers of his vast empire than about making 
additional conquests. In B.C. 27, he himself went through Gaul 
to the north of Spain, for the purpose of subduing the Astures and 
Cantabri, and making the Atlantic the boundary of the empire in 
the west. For three years he carried on war against them, and 
when at length, in B. c. 24, those brave tribes submitted, and gave 
hostages, he returned to Rome ; but soon after the Cantabri again 
revolted, and were finally subdued by Agrippa, in B. c. 19. About 
the same time jElius Gallus, the first governor of Egypt, made an 
unsuccessful expedition into Arabia ; but in Africa the frontier was 
secured by victories over the Ethiopians and Garamantes. In B. C. 
20 the Parthians who had until then been the most formidable ene- 
mies of Rome in the East, thought it advisable to return to Augustus 
the standards which had fallen into their hands during the wars of 
Crassus and Antony. This event filled every Roman with joy. 
The existence of numerous independent tribes in the Raetian and 
Graian Alps, and in Vindelicia and Noricum, was thought to be 
incompatible with the safety and peace of Italy; war accordingly 
was waged against them in B. c. 25, and was continued for many 
years, until the Alpine tribes were completely subdued in B c. 13, 
But the war against them stirred up commotions in Gaul and in the 
south of Germany. Some German tribes even crossed the Rhine 
and invaded Gaul, an event which created so much alarm at Rome, 
that Augustus himself, in b. c. 16, went to Gaul for the purpose of 



WARS UNDER AUGUSTUS. 379 

securing; its eastern frontier. But after an absence of three years, 
he returned, leaving; the command of the troops on the Rhine to bis 
step-son Drusus, who with his brother Tiberius had till then been 
conducting the war against the Alpine tribes. 

6. The appointment of Drusus marks the commencement of a 
series of dangerous wars with the Germans on the east of the Rhine, 
the object of which was not so much to gain a permanent footing in 
Germany as to crush that nation, which was thought to be a most 
dangerous neighbour of Gaul. Germany itself was for the most 
part a wild and uncultivated country, covered with immense forests 
and marshes, and holding out little or no temptation to a conqueror. 
The southern parts about the Danube, perhaps as far as the Maine, 
were inhabited by Celtic nations; the rest, with the exception of 
some portions in the north-east, was inhabited by a vast number of 
German tribes, which led a free and roving life, and were unable 
to bear the yoke of foreign rulers. But their great misfortune then, 
as ever after, was their incessant quarrels and wars with one another, 
which greatly facilitated the work of conquest. Drusus, when he 
undertook the command, in B. C. 12, at once resolved to conquer the 
part of Germany between the Rhine and the Elbe. From Mayence 
he made several successful expeditions against the Sigambri, Usi- 
petcs, Bructeri, Chatti, and others, and by the establishment of the 
fortress of Aliso near the sources of the Lippe, he endeavoured to 
secure his conquests. In b. C. 9 he advanced as far as the Elbe; 
but want of provisions obliged him to return ; on his journey he 
fell from his horse, and died thirty days later in consequence of the 
injury he received. 

7. His brother Tiberius, who until then had been conducting a 
war in Dalmatia and Pannonia, succeeded to the command of his 
forces, and in B. c. 8 crossed the Rhine to complete what his brother 
had commenced. For two years he continued the war with great 
skill and valour, though not always with that honesty which becomes 
a great general ; but he was unable completely to subdue the west 
of Germany. In B. c. 6 he returned to Rome, and was succeeded 
by Domitius Ahenobarbus, a bold but at the same time a prudent 
man, who endeavoured to push his conquests even beyond the Elbe. 
After various undertakings, none of which was crowned with per- 
manent success, Tiberius, in A. D. 4, resumed the command of the 
legions on the Rhine, and by victories on the field of battle, as well 
as by prudent negotiations, succeeded in subduing the country 
between the Rhine and the Weser, which in A. D. 5 was constituted 
as a Roman province. Peace being thus restored in that part of 
Germany, he meditated a war against Maroboduus, a powerful king 
of the Marcomanni, in the south-east of Germany; but the tidings 
of a great insurrection which had broken out in Pannonia and Dal- 
matia, obliged him to conclude peace with the king and direct his 



380 HISTORY OF ROME. 

forces against the rebels. This war lasted for two years, and 
obliged the Romans, who were at first unsuccessful, to make the 
greatest efforts. At length in A. D. 9 the fall of the fortress of Ande- 
rion decided the fate of the insurgents, who now again submitted 
to Rome ; but their country, between the Danube and the Adriatic, 
had been fearfully rnvaged during the war. 

8. In the meantime the work of Romanising western Germany 
was commencing : many Germans served in the Roman armies, and 
young nobles delighted in the distinctions with which they were 
honoured by their conquerors ; but the avarice and rapacity of the 
Roman governor Quintilius Varus, combined with his haughty and 
insolent manners, roused the aversion and hatred of the barbarians. 
A conspiracy accordingly was formed against him by Arminius, a 
young Cheruscan chief, who had served among the Romans, and 
was well acquainted with their mode of warfare. The Cheruscans 
were joined by several other tribes. Segestes, the father-in-law of 
Arminius, who bore him a grudge, informed Varus of the danger- 
ous plot; but in vain: in A. D. 9, the Roman governor set out 
against some rebels whose only object was to draw him into a 
snare. He marched heedlessly with three legions, many auxili- 
aries, and a quantity of baggage, through the forest of Tcutoburg, 
and in a battle during three very stormj' days, he suffered so com- 
plete a defeat that the ground far and wide was covered with the 
dead bodies of the Romans; all those who fell into the hands of 
the conquerors were made slaves; the Roman standards were lost, 
and Varus, in despair, put an end to his own life. The Germans 
had been commanded by Arminius, who was looked upon in after 
times as the great deliverer of his country from the yoke of the 
Romans. Augustus, on receiving intelligence of this disaster, is 
said to have been seized with rage and despair. As the fortress 
of Aliso had been taken and destroyed by the barbarians, the 
Ptomans found it impossible to maintain themselves on the eastern 
bank of the Rhine, and henceforth confined themselves to protect- 
ing the left bank and compelling the Germans to keep to their own 
side of the river. 

9. In this manner the reign of Augustus came to its close. The 
most eventful occurrence which marks it is the birth of our Lord 
Jesus Christ at Bethlehem in Judaea. His birth is the beginning 
of the Christian era, and the date of the present year marks the 
number supposed to have elapsed since his birth ; but more accurate 
chronological calculations have shown that the birth of Christ must 
be dated four or five years before the commencement of the vulgar 
era. The age of Augustus, or, more correctly, the period from the 
death of Sulla to that of Augustus, must be regarded as the golden 
age of Roman literature. The Latin language had then reached its 
highest development, and the greatest poets, orators, and historians 



REIGN OF TIBERIUS. 381 

that Rome produced belong to that memorable period, the study 
of which is of the highest interest also, because in it was first 
formed and consolidated that system of government and adminis- 
tration which has in a great measure determined the character of 
our modern civilisation. 

10. The happiness of Augustus was greatly disturbed during his 
later years by domestic misfortunes and afflictions. His promising 
grandsons, Caius and Lucius Caesar, the sons of his daughter Julia 
by his friend Agrippa, died prematurely in their youth, not without 
a suspicion of their having been poisoned by his ambitious wife 
Livia, who was anxious to secure the succession to Tiberius, her 
own son by her former husband. Augustus' daughter Julia, her- 
self, a talented but licentious woman, caused her father so much 
grief by her dissolute life, that in the end he found it necessary to 
banish her. A posthumous son of Agrippa by the same Julia, 
Agrippa Postumus, died by the hand of a hired assassin in a distant 
island, to which he had been banished in order that he might not 
put forward any claims against Tiberius. This murder was perpe- 
trated immediately after the death of Augustus, which took place 
on the 19th of August A. D. 14, at Nola in Campania, whither he 
had gone to restore his enfeebled health. He was succeeded with- 
out any diificulty by Tiberius, his step-son, who owed his elevation 
to the cunning contrivances of his mother Livia. The imperial 
dignity remained in the same family until Nero, who was the last 
of the line, for after his time the imperial throne was generally 
filled by the choice of the soldiery. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE SUCCESSORS OF AUGUSTUS DOWN TO THE DEATH OF NERO. 

1. In his earlier days Tiberius had acquired great renown for 
the ability with which he had conducted the various wars in the 
East, in Pannonia and on the Rhine; but his temper had been 
soured, and after his accession he seemed to have become cjuite a 
(lifl'erent man. He was a great proficient in dissimulation, and at 
first succeeded for a time in concealing the viciousness of his cha- 
racter and disposition ; but after the year A. D. 20, when his friend 
^lius Seianus gained paramount influence over him, the despot 
committed a series of most revolting atrocities. It was on the 
advice of Seianus that in A. D. 23 the praetorian cohorts received 
their stationary camp near Rome, whereby the government was at 



382 HISTORY OF ROME. 

once changed into a military despotism, for those praetorians hecaracj 
the ever ready tools of tyranny, and in the course of time usurpec' 
the power of electing and deposing emperors at their pleasure 
Augustus had allowed the people to assemble in their comitia, am 
even to pass laws in the ancient form, but Tiberius abolished tLi- 
last shadow of republican freedom, and transferred the function^ 
of the assembled people to the senate, which degraded itself by itt 
servile flattery, and readiness to do or sanction deeds which the 
despot himself shrunk from attempting. The trial of cases of lii-li 
treason against the person of the emperor became one of the duties 
of the senate, which was thus obliged to inflict punishment on per- 
sons whom Tiberius himself could scarcely have ventured to cu- 
demn. Every one was declared guilty of high treason who eiil; i 
by speech, deed, or writing, should oifend the emperor. Tl.is 
measure called into existence a host of well-paid crafty spies and 
informers, who crushed and stifled every honest expression ni' 
opinion, and extinguished the last spark of freedom and in de- 
pendence, while, on the other hand, they increased the tyrant's 
fears and cruelty. Seianus, whose character very much resembled 
that of his master, had the executive in his own hands, while Tibe- 
rius abandoned himself to the basest sensual lusts; and in order to 
be able to indulge them more freely and unrestrainedly, he with- 
drew in A. D. 26 from Rome, and finally took up his abode in the 
island of Capreae, in the bay of Naples. There he gave himself up 
to the grossest sensuality, and took a delight in torturing the unfor- 
tunate victims of his lust. This period of his absence from Rome 
-was the most frightful of his frightful reign, for Seianus now ruled 
■without restraint, endeavouring to exterminate the family of his 
sovereign, and thus to secure the succession to himself He had 
already despatched by poison Drusus, the only son of Tiberius. 
This had happened in A. D. 23 ; six years later several other mem- 
bers of the imperial family, and among them Agrippina and her 
three sous, were got rid of by being sent into exile, and were after- 
wards killed by starvation or otherwise; Caius (afterwards the 
emperor_ Caligula), the youngest of the sons of Agrippina and 
Germanicus, was the only one that escaped. At length, when all 
obstacles were removed, Seianus sued for the hand of the "widow 
of Drusus, whom he himself had poisoned. When, notwithstand- 
ing his great precaution, this was reported to Tiberius, the emperor 
addressed a letter to the senate, in which he accused his minister 
of high treason, and demanded his execution. The order was 
immediately and joyfully obeyed, A. D. 31, and Tiberius now took 
vengeance on all the friends and relations of Seianus. Macro, the 
successor of Seianus, was scarcely better than his predecessor; and 
Tiberius, by his experience of the past, became still more distrust- 
ful and cruel than before. His debauches had destroyed his health, 



REIGN OF TIBERIUS. 383 

and he appears to have felt his end approaching. But carefully 
concealing his condition, he resolved to return to Rome. In the 
meantime Macro, in conjunction with Caius (Caligula), had formed 
the design of getting rid of the aged tyrant. At a villa near Mise- 
num, Tiberius fell into a deathlike state of lethargy, which induced 
some persons of his suite to proclaim Caligula, who happened to be 
with his uncle, as his successor. But Tiberins recovered, and as 
both Macro and Caligula had reason to fear his vengeance, they 
caused him to be suffocated between beds and pillows, A. D. 37, 
when he had attained his seventy-eighth year. 

2. The most remarkable event in the external history of the 
reign of Tiberius is the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, according to the 
common chronology, in A. D. 33. We may also mention a fearful 
earthquake, by which many flourishing cities in Asia were reduced 
to heaps of ruins ; and the great catastrophe at Fidenae, where a 
temporary wooden amphitheatre fell during a show of gladiators, which 
had drawn together vast multitudes from Rome and other neigh- 
bouring towns; no less than fifty thousand persons were killed or 
seriously hurt on that occasion. The last great event we shall here 
notice, the war against the Germans, was in point of time the first, 
for in the very year in which Tiberius obtained the imperial dignity, 
A. D. 14, a great insurrection broke out among the legions on the 
Rhine and in Pannonia. Germanicus, the noble son of Drusus, 
commanding on the Rhine, was generous enough to quiet the sol- 
diers, who demanded that he should assume the imperial dignity 
instead of Tiberius. The revolt in Pannonia was quelled by prudent 
concessions on the part of Tiberius. Germanicus, after appeasing 
his troops, crossed the Rhine to wipe off the stain cast on the Roman 
name under the bad management of Varus; he penetrated into, and 
ravaged, the country of the Chatti, buried the remains of the Romans 
be found in the Teutoburg forest, and made Thusnelda, Armiuius' 
wife, his captive, she having been betrayed into his hands by her 
own father Segestes, who had always been well disposed towards 
the Romans. In consequence of this, Arminius exerted all his 
energy to rouse the Cheruscans and the neighbouring tribes to a 
vigorous resistance against the common enemy. A. Caecina, the 
legate ^of Germanicus, was brought into imminent danger; but 
owing to the superior tactics of the Romans and the prudence of 
Germanicus, the Germans were defeated in two battles. Neverthe- 
less, however, the dominion of Rome could not be firmly and per- 
manently re-established on the eastern bank of the Rhine. For 
when, in a. d. 16, Germanicus was recalled by Tiberius, who looked 
with jealousy upon his success and popularity, the Germans were 
for a time left without any further molestation. Germanicus was 
sent to the East, and died at Antioch in A. D. 19, having probably 
been poisoned by Piso, the governor of Syria. About this timo 



384 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Tiberius, or rather his son Drusus, undertook an expedition against 
Maroboduus, king; of the IMarcomanni. But to facilitate the under- 
taking, another German tribe was induced to attack Maroboduus in 
another quarter. As the king's capital was taken by the enemy, 
he sought the assistance of the Romans, whom he did not suspect 
of hostile intentions; but Tiberius ordered him to renounce his 
kingdom, and spend the remainder of his life at Eavenna. Catu- 
alda, the conqueror of Maroboduus, soon after experienced the same 
fate, for being driven from his kingdom, he sought refuge with the 
Romans, and was ordered to take up his residence at Forum Julium, 
in the south of Gaul. Arminius, the deliverer of Germany, was 
afterwards murdered by his own ungrateful countrymen. These 
occurrences and insurrections in Gaul and Africa, which were 
quelled without much difficulty, are the only important events in 
the Roman empire during the reign of Tiberius. 

3. Tiberius, as we have already noticed, was succeeded by Caius, 
commonly called Caligula, who reigned from A. D. 37 till 41. He 
was the son of the noble-minded Germanicus, by Agrippina, and as 
he resembled his father in appearance, every one hoped that he had 
also inherited his father's virtues. During the first eight months, 
these hopes seemed to be realised, when he was suddenly taken ill. 
He did indeed recover his bodily health, but in his conduct he was 
completely altered. The vicious disposition, which until then had 
been carefully concealed, now burst forth without scruple or restraint, 
and there can be little doubt that he was labouring under insanity. 
Without entering into the disgusting details of his reign, we shall 
briefly sum up the most prominent features of his character. He 
was a blood-thirsty tyrant, who took a delight in signing death-war- 
rants and witnessing the agonies of his victims; a seilseless squan- 
derer of the public treasures, which he spent upon the gratification 
of his lusts and the erection of absurd buildings ; a vain boaster, 
who celebrated triumphs over the Germans and Britons, whom he 
had never encountered on the field of battle, and ordered himself 
to be worshipped as a god ; a glutton, who by his excesses drained 
the provinces as well as the treasury ; and a low and vulgar sen- 
sualist, whose favourite companions were actors, gladiators, and 
prostitutes. A conspiracy was formed against this monster as early 
as B. c. 39, but it was discovered and its authors were put to death : 
soon after another was formed by some officers of the praetorian 
guards, and in A. D. 41 he was murdered in his own palace while 
attending the rehearsal of some actors. His wife and daughters were 
likewise put to death. During the tumult the murderers dragged 
forth Tiberius Claudius, who from fear had concealed himself, and 
proclaimed him emperor. 

4. Cladius was a brother of Germanicus, and a son of Drusus and 
Antonia. His life had been spared during the reigns of Tiberius 



REIGN OF CLAUDIUS. 385 

and Caligula, merely because he was despised and looked upon as 
an idiot, wiio was not likely ever to claim the succession. When 
he ascended the throne, he had reached the age of fifty-one years. 
The manner in which he had been treated by his own family had 
intimidated him and made him cowardly. His favourite pursuits 
had been history and antiquities, and he himself wrote a history of 
his own times, memoirs of his own life, and, in the Greek language, 
histories of Carthage and Etruria. While he occupied himself with 
these pursuits, his freedmen and favourites. Narcissus, Pallas, Cal- 
listus, and others governed the empire, exercising unlimited influ- 
ence over him, and his dissolute wife Messalina scorned every lav; 
of decency and morality. At the suggestion of these unworthy ad- 
visers, Claudius put to death the noblest men of the time, and the 
licentiousness of the court destroyed the last vestiges of virtue 
among the higher classes, especially among females. Messalina 
went so far in her shamelessness, as publicly to solemnise her mar- 
riage with a handsome young Roman, although she was lawfully 
married to Claudius. This step at length opened the eyes of the 
infatuated emperor, and, terrified by the prospect of greater dan- 
gers, he ordered Messalina to be put to death, and married his 
niece, the beautiful and talented, but licentious and ambitious 
Agrippina. She was anxious to get rid of his children by his for- 
mer wife, and to secure the succession to Nero her own son, by her 
former husband, Domitius Ahenobarbus. When her schemes were 
discovered, and the voluptuous emperor was on the point of thwart- 
ing her, she anticipated him by causing him to be poisoned, in the 
month of October, A. D. 54. The reign of Claudius, so far as he 
was not under the influence of women and freedmen, was mild and 
popular. He was very fond of building, and undertook and com- 
pleted some very impoitant works : he deepened and fortified the 
port of Ostia, and drained the Fucine lake by constructing an im- 
mense tunnel, at which thirty thousand men are said to have been 
at work for eleven years, and which led the waters of the lake into 
the river Liris. In spite of the moral degeneracy of the times, the 
Koman arms were victorious abroad under Claudius and his succes- 
sors. In A. D. 50, a successful war was commenced against the 
Parthians, who attempted to conquer Armenia. In Germany, 
quarrels arose after the death of Arminius, which led to Claudius 
appointing Italicus, a nephew of Arminius, king of the Cheruscans, 
and considerably weakened the German tribes, so that the whole 
of western Germany might again have become a Roman province, 
had not Claudius recalled his victorious general Corbulo, and ordere<l 
him to confine himself to defending the western banks of the Rhine. 
The reign of Claudius is also remarkable as the period in which the 
Romans first made permanent conquests in Britain. On the invi- 
tation of an exiled British chief, a Roman army, in A. D. 43. in- 
33 



886 HISTORY OF ROME. 

vaded the island. Claudius himself visited it for a short time, but 
left the management of the war to his lieutenants, who continued itl 
for nine years. A-^espasian aod his son Titus acquired their first 
military laurels in this war, and the south-eastern part of Britain, 
which was finally conquered in A. D. 51, was constituted a Roman' 
province. 

5. Agrippina succeeded in her plan of securing the succession 
to her son Nero, and soon after the murder of Claudius, the young 
man, only seventeen years old, was proclaimed emperor. He had', 
been educated by the philosopher Seneca and Burrus, an officer of | 
the praetorian guards, and was possessed of coui^^iderable talent, but | 
the influence of the corrupt and licentious court, the obsequious- 
ness of the senate, and the servility of the people, could not but' 
ultimately produce their efi'ects. During the first, five years of his 
reign, however, Seneca, and Burrus so far succeeded in control- 
ling his vicious propensities, that this period, compared with that 
which fullowed, appeared to the Ilomans as a most happy time. 
Things assumed a diiferent aspect, wlien Nero began to quarrel 
with his ambitious mother, who interfered in the government, and 
even threatened to raise Brittanieus, the son of Claudius, to the 
throne, lie now in rapid succession murdered Brittanieus and his 
mother, whom he intended to drown by means of a boat, constructed 
in such a manner that it went to pieces when on tlie waters; but 
as she saved herself by swimming, he ordered her to be assassinated, 
and this deed was not dis^approved of by Seneca and Burrus. His 
mistresses Acte and Poppaea Sabina led him from one crime to 
another, and when Burius was removed from the court, B. C. 62, 
Nero threw off all restraint : he banished his wife Octavia to the 
island of Pandataria, where she was soon afterwards murdered, and 
then married the adulterous Poppaea Sabina. Two years later, a 
fearful conflagration broke out at Rome, which lasted for six days, 
and during which the greater part of the city was reduced to ashes. 
It is said that this fire was the work of Nero, who was anxious to 
have a vivid representation of the burning of Troy. The emperor, 
however, charged the Christians, wbo as yet formed an obscure 
BCct, with having caused the conflagration, and instituted a cruel 
persecution against them, in which the apostles Peter and Paul 
are said to have perished. The magnificent restorati(m of the city, 
and tlie building of Nero's golden house on the Palatine hill, in- 
creased the oppressive character of his rule, though the populace 
was kept in good humour by being fed and amused with the 
plunder of the provinces. 

5. In B. c. 65, a formidable conspiracy was formed by Cal- 
purnius Piso, but it was discovered, and Piso himself, the poet 
Lucan, and a great many others, had to pay for the attempt with 
their lives. Seneca, who was also suspected of having been an 



REIGN OF NERO. 387 

accomplice, died by opening his own veins. His next victims were 
bis wiie I'oppaea Sabina, whom he killed in a brutal fit of passion, 
and Antonia, a daughter of Claudius, whom he murdered because 
she lefased to marry him. Virtue, in whatever form it appeared, 
now became an object of the tyrant's fear and hatred. In A. D. 
67, Nero went to Greece to take part as a player on the lyre in the 
great games at Olympia and on the Isthmus, and signalised him- 
self by the grossest fuUies and cruelties. In the following year, 
soon after his return, an insurrection, headed by Julius Viudex^ 
broke out in Graul, on account of the fearful oppressiim to which 
th^t country had been subjected. Vindex offered the sovereignty 
to k>ervius Gralba, governnr of Spain, who was at once proclaimed 
emperor by his soldiers. But Kufus, the governor of southern 
(jermany, marched into Gaul against Vindex, and although the 
two appjar to have come to an amicable arrangement, Vindex by 
some mistake was murdered. The praetorians at Kome were soon 
induced likewise to proclaim Servius Galba, whereupon Nero, 
abandoned by every one, took to flight, and on being discovered, 
inflicted a wound on himself, in consequence of which he died, in 
June A. D. Q6. With him the house of the Claudii or of Augustus 
became extinct, and henceforth the praetorian guards, and some- 
times the legions in the provinces, assumed the right of electing 
the emperor, who generally obtained the sanction of the senate, 
which, however, was a mere matter of form. 

7. In the meantime the Parthians in the East had succeeded in 
making them:^elves masters of Armenia. In A. D. 54, Doniitius 
Corbulo, one of the. ablest generals of the time, was sent against 
them, and in a long protracted war recovered the whole of Ar- 
menia; bis successor, however, was unable to maintain his ground, 
and liridates, a brother of the Parthian king, in A. D. 66 again 
ascended the throne of Armenia. Germany was tolerably quiet 
during the reign of Nero, but in Britain an alarming insurrection 
broke out in A. D. 61, in consequence of the fearful rapacity of the 
Roman governor. During his absence on an expedition against the 
island of Mona, the Britons under their qu( eu Bo.dicea took up 
arms, and succeeded in destroying a whole Roman legion and 
several colonies. But the governor Pauiinus speedily returned, 
ai.d defeated them in a great battle, in which (ighty thousand of 
them are said to have been slain. Roadicea put an end to her own 
lif;, and peacj was concluded with the Bntons. During Nero's 
stay in Greece, the Jews also rose in open rebellion against their 
oppressors, a. id afier the first defeat of the Roman army by them, 
the emperor gave the command to Vesp;isian, who had already 
greatly distinguished himself by extending the Roman dominion in 
Britain. 



388 HISTORY OF ROME. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

FROM THE DEATH OF NERO TO THAT OF DOMITIAN. 

1. On learning that he had been proclaimed by the praetorians, . 
aud that the choice was sanctioned by the senate, Servius Galba 
hastened to Eome, accompanied by Salvias Otho, the governor of 
Lusitania. He was the first emperor that was raised to the throne 
by the soldiery, and they expected that he would be particulatly 
liberal towards them. In this hope they were disappointed, and as, j 
moreover, he attempted to restore discipline among them, and was 
also guilty of some arbitrary proceedings, to which he was led by ' 
his freedmen, who had entire control over him, Salvius Otho formed I 
a conspiracy against him, and Galba was murdered while crossing ; 
the Forum, in January, A. D. 69, at the advanced age of seventy- 
thi-ee, and after a reign of scarcely eight months. His adopted son, 
Piso Licinianus, who was to have been his successor, and whose 
adoption had offended Otho, was likewise murdered. 

2. The praetorians now proclaimed Otho emperor, and the servile 
senate sanctioned their choice. Otho had been the contemptible 
husband of Poppaea Sabina before her marriage with Nero; but he 
commenced his reign by taking to account some of the persons who 
had been most conspicuous under Nero. He had, however, scarcely 
entered on his duties, when he received tidings that the legions sta- 
tioned on the Pthine had proclaimed Vitellius, their own com- 
mander, emperor. The latter immediately sent an army across the 
Alps, and in a great battle near Bcdriacum, gained a decisive vic- 
tory over Otho, who a few days later made away with himself in 
despair, in April, A. D. 69. Otho's army surrendered to Vitellius, 
who was now the undisputed sovereign of the empire. He was a 
vulgar glutton, who had spent all his life in coarse sensual pleasures. 
He took no interest in the duties of his station, allowed the praeto- 
rians to act as they pleased with impunity, and distinguished him- 
self only by extorting money to satisfy his low appetites. This con- 
duct aroused general indignation against him, and the legions in 
Syria, Moesia, and Pannonia, renounced their allegiance; during 
these insurrections. Flavins Vespasianus, who was successfully car- 
rying on the war against the Jews, was proclaimed emperor. Be- 
ing supported by the governors of several other provinces, and leav- 
ing the continuation of the siege of Jerusalem to his son Titus, he 
at once prepared for war against Vitellius. The hostile armies met 
in the north of Italy, and Antonius Primus, a staunch supporter of 
Vespasian, who had come with an army across the Alps, defeated 
Vitellius near Bedriacura, and the town of Cremona was completely 



REION OP VESPASIAN. 889 

ravaged for its attachment to him. Vitellius was now forsaken by 
all parlies except the praetorians and the Roman populace. When 
the hostile army arrived at Rome, a frightful massacre took place 
in the streets of the city. Sabinus, a brother of "Vespasian, who 
had thrown himself into the Capitol, was taken and murdered by 
the partizans of Vitellius, and the magnificent Capitoline temple 
was destroyed by fire. At length the praetorian camp in which 
Vitellius had taken refuge fell into the hands of the enemy, and the 
emperor being dragged forth was cruelly murdered, in December, 
A. D. 69, after a reign of scarcely eight months. 

3. While these things were going on in Italy, Vespasian was 
still at Alexandria, in Egypt, and the affairs at Rome were managed 
by his son Domitian, and Mucianus, the late governor of Syiia. 
The new emperor himself did not arrive in Rome until A. D. 70, 
when he found the praetorians completely subdued. All the suc- 
cessors of Augustus had been cruel tyrants or contemptible imbe- 
ciles. Vespasian was a man of quite a different character, and the 
very ruler whom Rome required at the time; he may be called the 
true renovator of the state. Immediately after his arrival at Rome 
he set about restoring discipline among the troops and the praeto- 
rians, excluded unworthy men from the senate, watched over the 
administration of justice, suppressed the detestable class of inform- 
ers, stopped the trials for high treason against the person of the em- 
peror, and economised the finances of the empire by a wise regula- 
tion of the taxes and tolls, though he was not niggardly when the 
public good or the embellishment of the city required it. He spent 
enormous sums upon the rebuilding of the Capitoline temple, upon 
the construction of the great amphitheatre called the Colosseum, 
which even in its present dilapidated state excites the wonder and 
admiration of all travellers, and upon the building of the temple of 
Peace. By his own example he endeavoured to put an end to the 
profligacy of the higher orders, and gave to the empire a greater 
degree of unity and compactness than it had hitherto possessed, by 
raising the most illustrious men from the provinces to the places 
which became vacant in the senate, so that Italy virtually ceased to 
be the exclusive mistress of the world. Vespasian was what we 
may call a plain, practical man; he had a great aversion not only to 
every kind of luxury, but also to the numerous philosophers and 
astrologers who then resided at Rome, and whom in A. D. 74, he 
expelled from the city. He hated the Christians and republicans ; 
the former he confoun^ind with the Jews, and the latter, who were 
found principally among the Stoic philosophers, he regarded as fool- 
ish and audacious speculators. Hence the noble Helvidius Priscus, 
who, like his father-in-law Paetus Thrasea, was a great Stoic and 
republican, and had often been troublesome to the emperor by his 
opposition in the senate, was first exiled and then put to death. 
33* 



390 HISTORY OF ROME. 

4. Among the most remarkable occurrences in the history of the 
empire during Vespasian's reign is the capture of Jerusalem by his 
son Titus, in A. D. 70. Judaea had for many years been governed 
by Roman procuratores, who not only oppressed the people, but by 
their insolence and scorn wounded their deepest feelings. Gessius 
Florus, who had been appointed procurator by Nero, combining cru- 
elty with the ordinary qualities of a Roman governor, drove the 
Jews, who were also urged on by a strong national party, into open 
rebellion, and the Romans were compelled to evacuate Jerusalem. 
But the victorious party now established a reign of terror in the 
city, during which many of the moderate party and the Roman pri- 
soners were murdered. Vespasian then, A. D. 67, undertook the 
war against the Jews with a powerful army. Being misguided by 
their own leaders, distracted by internal dissensions, and mortally 
hated by the Romans, they fought with the courage of despair 
against the legions. After the fall of the strong fortress of Jota- 
pata, and a fearful defeat in which forty thousand Jews are said to 
have been killed, they were obliged to confine themselves to the 
defence of their city of Jerusalem, which, after Vespasian's eleva- 
tion to the sovereignty of the empire, was besieged by his son Titus. 
The city being overcrowded with men from all pai-ts, suiFered 
severely from famine, and the distress was increased by epidemic 
diseases and furious party feuds. It was in vain that Titu.s offered 
to spare the Jews, if they would lay down their arms ; rage against 
their enemies and a blind confidence in the speedy help of Jehovah, 
goaded them on to the last extremity. When at length the city 
was taken, the Jews defended themselves in the Temjile, until that 
magnificent and venerable building, too, became a prey to the flames 
on the 2d of September, A. D. 70. The city was then destroyed, 
and upwards of a million of Jews are said to have perished. They 
lost their independence forever, and being forbidden to rebuild their 
city, scattered over the whole of the Roman empire, where they 
were subject to the payment of an annual tax. The triumphal arch, 
afterwards erected by Titus at Rome, still bears witness to that 
memorable event. 

5. Even before Vespasian's arrival at Rome, a great insurrection, 
headed by Claudius Civilis, had broken out among the Batavi, whose 
example was speedily followed by the Frisians and some Gallic tribes; 
but owing to the energy of Petilius Cerealis, they were defeated one 
after another, and compelled to sue for peace, A. D. 70. In the fol- 
lowing year Cerealis obtained the administration of Britain, and was 
accompanied thither by Agricola, the father-in-law of the great his- 
torian Tacitus, by whom we have a life of him. In A. D. 77, Agricola 
was himself appointed governor of Britain, a post which he filled until 
A. D. 85, to his own honour and that of his countrymen. During this 
period he conquered not only all England but the south of Scotland 



REIGN OF VESPASIAN AND TITUS. 391 

as far as the Firths of Clyde and Forth. He carried his victories 
even to the Highlands, and explored the coasts of the country, thoujzh 
he was unable to establish the Koman dominion beyond the Forth. 

G. The reign of Vespasian was extremely beneficial to the empire, 
although he did things which cannot be called otherwise than cruel. 
Towards the eud of his life a conspiracy was formed against him ; 
but it was discovered and its authors were put to death. Soon 
afterwards he was taken ill, and having died on the 23d of June, 
A. D. 79, at the age of seventy, he was succeeded by his son Titus, 
who had latterly governed the empire in conjunction with his father. 
His short reign lasted only till the middle of September A. D. 81, 
and at first considerable apprehension prevailed at Rome, as he had 
been previous^ly guilty of several acts of cruelty. But after his 
accession he showed himself so kind and benevolent as to obtain 
and deserve the title of " the love and delight of mankind." The 
calamities which visited several parts of the empire during his brief 
reign afforded him excellent opportunities for displaying his kindly 
benevolence. In the month of August A. D. 79, a fearful eruption 
of mount Vesuvius, the first recorded in history, destroyed and 
buried under burning lava and ashes the towns of Herculaneum, 
Pompeii, and Stabiae. Pliny the elder, who ventured too near to 
satisfy his curiosity, lost his life ; the whole eruption has been 
minutely described by his nephew, the younger Pliny, in two letters 
addressed to Tacitus the historian. Portions of these buried towns 
which have been laid open in modern times, furnish the most inte- 
resting information on antiquities and ancient art. It is saidvthat 
the emperor Titus spent nearly his whole property in relieving the 
sufferers who survived the terrible catastrophe. In A. D. 80 a fire 
broke out at Rome, which raged for three days, destroying the finest 
parts of the city; and no sooner had this misfortune passed away, 
than a fearful pestilence came, which carried off thousands of people 
in all parts of Italy. The last year of Titus' reign is marked by 
the inauguration of the Colosseum, which had been commenced by 
his father, and by the building of the Thermae, which bear his 
name. He died in the same villa in which Vespasian had breathed 
his last, in the country of the Sabines ; and all the Romans mourned 
over his death as over that of a father. During his reign the frontiers 
of the empire were not disturbed by any aggressions, and Agricola 
was engaged in the conquest of Britain, which he secured by forti- 
fications between the Clyde and Forth. 

7. Titus was succeeded by his brother Doniitian, a man who had 
already given numerous proofs of his cruel and tyrannical disposi- 
tion, and was even believed to have made attempts upon the lives 
of his father and brother. At first, however, his conduct led his 
subjects to believe that he was better than his reputation, but after- 
wards he displayed his real character, and became one of the darkest 



392 HISTORY OP ROME. 

and most detestable tjTants that ever disgraced a throne. Hosts 
of informers again arose as in the worst days of his predecessors. 
He increased the pay of the soldiers to make himself popular with 
them, and in order to obtain the means necessary for this and other 
extravagances, he had recourse to confiscations, and wealthy persons 
were treated as criminals merely to enable the despot to gain posses- 
sion of their property. His only delights were the gladiatorial 
exhibitions, and the torturing of his victims. He was by no means 
devoid of talent, but his occupation with poeti-y and literature did 
not improve his savage nature. In A. D. 83 he undertook an expe- 
dition against the Chatti, and built a frontier wall between the free 
Germans and those who were subject to the empire. In the year 
following Agricola gained a great victory over the Caledonians, who 
were commanded by their chief Galgacus, at the foot of the Gram- 
pians ; but as Domitian was jealous of the success of his general, he 
recalled him to Rome. Two years later, A. D. 86, the warlike nation 
of the Dacians crossed the Danube and defeated the Roman army 
in Moesia. Domitian himself took the field, but was unable to 
repel them. The Marcomanni and other tribes which were allied 
with Rome, refused to support the emperor, and thus obliged him 
to purchase a disgraceful peace from the Dacian king Decebalus, 
A. D. 90. Notwithstanding this ignominy, Domitian did not blush 
to celebrate a triumph over the Dacians, and assume the name of 
Dacicus; but as he nevertheless felt his humiliation keenly, he 
became still more ferocious, and went so far in his madness as to 
order himself to be worshipped as " Lord and God." The noblest 
men were put to death for opinions they ventured to express ; 
the philosophers, one of whom was the great Epictetus, were 
expelled, and the Christians, whose number had been steadily 
increasing at Rome, were murdered and persecuted without mercy. 
In the end, however, his own wife Domitia, whom he intended to 
put to death, formed a conspiracy against him, and the tyrant was 
stabbed in his bed-room by one of her freedmen, on the 18th of 
September a.d. 96. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

FROM THE ACCESSION OF NERVA, TO THE DEATH OF M. AURELIUS. 

1. Hitherto all the Roman emperors had been natives of Italy j 
but henceforth we frequently find provincials raised to the imperial 
dignity, and it was fortunate for the empire that it was so, for the 



REIGN OF TRAJAN. 393 

moral corruption and degradation of Rome and Italy had not yet 
spread over all the provinces, and the five emperors who followed 
after Domitian form so noble a contrast with their unworthy prede- 
cessors (always excepting Vespasian and Titus), that the period of 
their reign from A. D. 96 to A. D. 180, is regarded as the happiest 
in the whole history of the Roman emperors. Immediately after 
the murder of Domitian, the people and soldiers proclaimed Nerva, 
a venerable senator of mild disposition. He was, however, not the 
man whom the praetorians wished to see at the head of affairs, and 
was therefore obliged to be cautious, both in punishing offenders 
and in restoring those who had been exiled by Domitian. But 
the insolence of the praetorians knew no bounds, and in order to 
strengthen himself, he adopted Ulpius Trajan, a man of unblemished 
character, who at the time had the command of the legions in 
Germany. But three months after he had taken this step he died 
of a fever on the 27th of January A. D. 98. If he had lived longer, 
he would unquestionably have wrought a great moral change among 
his subjects. 

2. Trajan was a native of Italica in Spain, and arrived at Rome 
in the year A. D. 99. His administration of the internal affiiirs of 
the empire gained for him the surname of " the Best," while his 
military undertakings showed him to be a man of great military 
talent. He first of all got rid of the infamous class of informers, 
many of whom were exiled, and punished the most turbulent among 
the praetorians. He restored to the senate its power, and founded 
an institution for the education of poor children of both sexes; he 
facilitated trade and commerce by making new roads, canals, bridges, 
and by extending the port of Civitu Vecchia; he adorned Rome, 
Italy, and the provinces with triumphal arches, porticoes, temples, 
- and Rome in particular with the institution of a public library, and 
the building of a new Forum, in the centre of which rose the cele- 
brated column of Trajan with its bas-relief sculptures representing 
his own exploits against the Dacians. He honoured men of intel- 
lectual culture, and loved their society, as we see from the relation 
subsisting between him and the historian Tacitus and the younger 
Pliny. Trajan's own mode of life was simple and without any pomp 
or ostentation. His wife Plotina and his sister Marciana are among 
the most estimable female characters in Roman history, and contri- 
buted by their example not a little towards the improvement in the 
conduct of Roman ladies, which henceforth is not disgraced by that 
licentiousness which forms so deplorable a feature in their character 
during the first century of the empire. 

8. Trajan deeply felt the humiliation of paying to the Dacians 
the tribute with which Domitian had purchased peace, and in A. D. 
100, he set out with a large army against Dacia, which was still 
governed by king Decebalus. Trajan took his capital Zarmizege- 



394 HISTORY OF ROME. 

tliusa, defeated him in several battles, and compelled him, in A. D, 
103, to sue for peace, -which was granted to him on condition of his 
ceding a portion of his dominions to the empire. This peace, how- 
ever, did not last long, for in A. D. 104 the Dacians rose again. 
Trajan then caused a stone bridge to be built over the Danube to 
facilitate his operations, and marching into Dacia, pressed the 
enemy so hard, that Decebalus in despair made away with himself, 
A. D. 106. Dacia (i. e. Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania) 
then became a Roman province, and received numerous colonies, 
which in a short time firmly established Roman culture and civilisa- 
tion among the Dacians. Trajan, on his return to Rome, erected 
the above-mentioned column, which is still one of the most inter- 
esting remains of ancient Rome. In A. D. 114, the Parthians again 
menaced the eastern frontiers of the empire, for their king, deposing 
the king of Armenia, raised his own brother to the throne. Trajan 
immediately took the field against them. The Armenians received 
him with open arms, and their country was made a Roman province, 
A. D. 115; Nisibis then fell into his hands, and with it the whole 
of Mesopotamia. The emperor even crossed the Tigris, subdued 
Assyria, and took the towns of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, the capital 
of the Parthians, who were obliged to accept Parthamaspates as 
their king. When the affairs of the Parthians were thus settled, 
Trajan entered Arabia, where some of his lieutenants had made 
conquests before, but being taken ill, he left his legate Hadrian in 
the command of his forces, and hastened to return to Rome; death, 
however, overtook him at Selinus in Cilicia, on the 9th of August, 
A. D. 117. His retnains were carried to Rome and deposited under 
the column which he had erected in his Forum. 

4. After the death of Trajan, his wife Plotina spread a report 
that during his illness he had adopted Hadrian, who accordingly 
undertook the sovereignty at Antioch, where he was then staying, 
and where he was proclaimed. Hadrian was a native of Picenum, 
and his father had been married to a relation of Trajan. His dis- 
position was less warlike than that of his predecessor, and seeing 
that the maintenance of the conquests made by him would involve 
the empire in perpetual wars, he made the Euphrates the boundary 
in the East, restoring Assyria and Mesopotamia to the Parthian.s, 
and Armenia to the rank of an independent kingdom. Having 
thus settled the afi^airs in the East, he returned to Rome, A. D. 118, 
and then marched into Moesia, which had been invaded by Sarma- 
tian tribes. As he did not wish to make conquests, but only to 
protect the frontiers of the empire, he concluded peace with the 
Roxolani. In the meantime, a plot was formed against him by a 
number of his personal enemies; but the scheme was discovered, 
and as his severity in punishing the leaders created ill feeling both 
in the army and at Rome, Hadrian, fearing serious consequences, 



REIGN OF HADRIAN. 395 

returned to Rome, where he did everything in his power to con- 
ciliate the senate and the people, while the war against the Sarma- 
tiaiis was continued by his legates. 

5. When the frontiers of the empire had been secured, Hadrian, 
in A. D. 120, undertook a journey through all the provinces of the 
empire, a great part of which he made on foot, accompanied by only 
a small retinue. He visited Gaul, Germany, Britain, the northern 
part of which he secured against the invasions of the Scots by the 
famous wall extending from the mouth of the Tyne to the Solway ; 
Greece, Asia, and Egypt, where bis favourite Antinoiis was drowned 
in the Nile. These journeys were undertaken, partly on account 
of a certain restlessness in his disposition, partly to satisfy his curi- 
osity, and partly to make himself personally acquainted with the 
wants of the provinces, and discover the means fur improving their 
condition. Everywhere he left memorials of his visits, which were 
designed either to defend and strengthen towns and provinces, or 
to embellish them, for be was a man of high intellectual culture, 
and cap.ible of noble feelings, though vanity and conceit rendered 
him easily accessible to flattery, and towards the end of his life, 
mistrust and weariness of life often led him to harshness and cruelty. 
Athens, where he loved to dwell, was embellished by him with 
extraordinary splendour. His taste for the arts, not to mention the 
aqueducts, bridges, and temples, with which he adorned Rome, 
Athens, Nemausus, and other places, was displayed especially in 
his villa below Tibur, which is still a real mine of valuable antiqui- 
ties, and his magnificent mausoleum at Rome (Castle St. An- 
gelo). Hadrian was also a liberal patron of literature and science, 
though in this respect, as well as in his cultivation of the arts, he 
was very capricious, and much given to astrology and other super- 
stitious pursuits. The philosophers and rhetoricians who were bis 
friends, and lived at his court, such as Plutarch, Herodes Atticus, 
and Fronto, were men skilled in the use of courtly and tinkling 
phrases, but deficient in manly spirit and independence. 

6. Shortly after Hadrian's return from his travels, A. D. 131, a 
fearful insurrection broke out among the Jews. Jerusalem had 
been made a Roman colony under the name of JEVm Capitolina, 
pagan worship had been introduced, and the religious rites of the 
Jews rudely interfered with. In consequence of these things they 
now rose in arms, and carried on a desperate war for many years, 
but in the end they were crushed by Julius Severus, who was sum- 
moned from Britain to conduct the war against them. The Jews 
henceforth were forbidden to live at Jerusalem, or in its immediate 
vicinity, and thousands were sold into slavery. Hadrian, in the 
meantime, lived in retirement; the flitigues ne hud undergone had 
impaired his health, and he was so tired of life that he made several 
attempts at suicide; but he died at Baiae on the 10th of July, 



396 II 1 S T () R Y O F R O M E . \ 

\ 

A. D. 138. As lie had no children, he adopted during his illness j 
Arrius Antoninus (Antoninus Pius), whom he obliged to adopt j 
Annius Verus (M. Aurelius). During the last three years of his 
life, Hadrian, in consequence of the state of his health, had com- 
mitted many acts which rendered him unpopular; but Antoninus, ' 
with true filial affection for him, did all he could to prevent an out- 
break of popular indignation, and hence deserved his surname of Pius. 

7. Antoninus Pius, who was descended from a family belonging 
to Nemausus in Gaul, owed his adoption by Hadrian solely to his 
virtues. He had already distinguished himself by his wisdom and 
mildness in various high offices with which he had been invested. 
His reign, from A. D. 138 to A. D. 161, forms the happiest period of 
the Iloman empire. He strictly adhered to the principles of his 
predecessor, and used to say, that he would rather save the life of 
one citizen than slay a thousand enemies. He was a real ornament 
of the imperial throne, and was beloved throughout the empire per- 
haps more than any sovereign has ever been beloved either before 
or since. His whole care was devoted to the advancement of the 
arts of peace and the happiness of his people. These objects he en- 
deavoured to attain by the proper administration of justice, and by 
educational and charitable institutions for the poor and for orphan 
children. The peace which prevailed during his reign, and his own 
fervent piety, gained for him the name of a second Numa. The 
Christians, who then existed in large numbers both at Rome and in 
the provinces, were not disturbed in their religious observances. 
He died on the 7th of March, A. D. 161, in one of his villas where 
he loved to reside in rural retirement. The Roman empire was so 
situated that it could not be safe for any length of time without 
war, and as the troops had been inactive throughout his reign, they 
had become idle and unwarlike, and when dangers burst in upon 
the empire under his successor, it was found that the armies were 
no longer what they had been. 

8. As the two sons of Antoninus had died before their father, he 
was succeeded, according to the established custom, by his adopted 
son M. Aurelius, surnamed the Philosopher, a native of Rome. He 
had been educated with the greatest care, and had from his earliest 
days shown an extreme love of truth and thirst for knowledge. 
The doctrines of the Stoic philosophy had a peculiar charm for him, 
and he continued his favourite pursuit even after he had ascended 
the throne, though he did not neglect his duties as a ruler when 
the empire was in danger. As, however, he was of a weakly con- 
stitution, he admitted his adopted brother, L. Verus, a young and 
active man, to a full participation of the sovereign power; Verus, 
however, was addicted to debauchery and voluptuousness, which 
dispositions he had until then cai'efully concealed from M. Aurelius; 
but he indulged in them without restraint as soon as he found him 



REIGN OP M. AURELIUS. '397 

self abroad at the head of the armies. The Parthians, who had 
been restrained by the remonstrances of Antoninus, now began 
making inroads into the Roman provinces, and L. Verus set out 
against them in A. D. 162. On arriving in Syria, he at once aban- 
doned himself to his voluptuous propensities, leaving the command 
of the forces to his lieutenants, one of whom invaded Mesopotamia 
and destroyed Seleucia and Ctesiphon, while another made himself 
master of Armenia. Peace was at last concluded with the Parthian 
king, in which he was obliged to cede Mesopotamia to the Romans, 
A. D. IGG. 

9. But still more serious dangers were threatening the empire 
in the north-east, for a number of German and Sarmatian tribes, 
such as the Marcomanni and Quadi, were on the point of invading 
Italy, and had already advanced as far as Aquilcia. Soon after 
Verus' return from Syria, the two emperors marched out together 
against the barbarians, and displayed such overwhelming power that 
the enemies retreated before them. In A. D. 169 L. Verus died of 
a fit of apoplexy, and M. Aurelius, now sole emperor, continued the 
war with great vigour. On one occasion a great battle was fought 
on the frozen Danube. In A. D. 174, the whole of the Roman 
army was surrounded, and was saved from destruction only by a 
violent storm. This sudden and unexpected success of the Romans 
struck the barbarians with awe, and they sought and obtained 
peace, on condition of their withdrawing beyond the Danube, A. D. 
175. After the pacification of the DanuLian frontier, M. Aurelius 
was called to the East by an insurrection of Avidius Cassias, who 
had been instigated by the emperor's own wife, Faustina, the un- 
worthy daughter of Antoninus Pius. While he was engaged in 
quelling the insurrection with a moderation and mildness to which 
history scarcely presents a parallel, the Marcomanni and their allies 
renewed the war. In A. D. 178 he therefore once more set out 
against the Germans and Sarmatians, and fought several successful 
battles ; but before the war was brought to a close he died at Sir- 
mium, on the 17th of March, A. D. ISO. His son Commodus, who 
had accompanied him, now made haste to purchase peace of the bnr- 
barians, and thereby revealed to them the weakness of the empire, 
or rather his own. M. Aurelius had been a philosopher on the 
throne, in the noblest sense of the term. Notwithstanding the 
almost uninterrupted wars of his reign, he found leisure to compose 
his celebrated " Meditations," in which he has portrayed himself 
with all his amiable, affectionate, and benevolent sentiments. His 
reign closes the series of really good emperors. His son Commo- 
dus, who succeeded him, was one of the most contemptible and in- 
sane tyrants known in history. 

34 



898 HISTORY OF ROME. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

FROM THE ACCESSION OF COMMODUS TO THAT OF DIOCLETIAN. 1 

1. The accession of Coiuinodus forms the beginning of the decline; 
of the empire, both internally and externally. The best age of 
Roman literature and the arts had come to a close even before the I 
death of Augustus; the subsequent period, though much inferior im 
many respects, yet produced a Tacitus and a Juvenal ; the arts also 
revived under Hadrian; but all is now over, and everything tends 
downwards. The praetorian guards henceforth exercised a nm-t 
frightful military despotism; and as the troops stationed in the pro-i 
vinces did not always acquiesce in the choice of the praetorians, ' 
sometimes two or even more emperors were proclaimed at once in I 
diiferent parts of the empire. From the time of Commodus there j 
is an irregular succession of emperors, who, with very few excep- ! 
tions, are distinguished only for tyranny and baseness, or impotence 
and weakness. 

2. After having purchased peace of the Marcomanni, Commodus, 
not yet twenty years old, hastened to Italy, to indulge in all the 
pleasures and licentiousness of the capital; for the excellent educa- 
tion he had received, and the noble example of his father, were lost 
upon him. During the first two years of his reign there was not 
much to complain of, and the best hopes were entertained of him; 
but a conspiracy formed against him in A. D. 183, by his own sister, 
changed everything, and the whole remaining period of his life was 
an uninterrupted series of sanguinary and disgusting excesses. 
The friends and advisers of his father were put to death, and the 
business of the state was left to the lowest creatures, while Commo- 
dus abandoned himself publicly and without shame, to the grossest 
vices and most brutal debaucheries. His greatest ambition was to 
shine as a gladiator in the circus, both against wild beasts and 
human beings, and his athletic strength led him to regard himself ' 
as a second Hercules. In A. D. 185, he was forced by his troops 
in Britain to recall their commander Perennis, whose tyranny was 
unbearable to the men; but at the same time he appointed his 
favourite freedman, Cleander, prefect of the praetorian guards. The 
exasperation against the unworthy favourite soon rose to such a 
pitch that he was literally torn to pieces by the populace. At the 
same time Italy was suffering from plague and famine, while the 
emperor amused himself with his concubines, and with butchering 
the noblest among the senators. At length he formed the design 
of entering the senate-house on the 1st of January, A. D. 193, with 
a band of gladiators, and of murdering the consuls and many other 



SEPTIMUS SEVERUS. 399 

persons of ennnence. The list of the victims fell into the hands of 
his mistre!-s, Marcia, and finding her own name among them, she, 
in conjunction with others, caused the tjrant to be strangled in his 
bed, on the olst of December, A. D. 192. During his whole reign 
he had never troubled himself about the safety of the empire, but 
its integrity was nevertheless maintained by the valour of his gene- 
rals. Britain was disturbed by invasions of the Caledonians, who 
defeated the Roman legions, and spread devastation far and wide ; 
but Ulpius Marcellus drove them back into their own country, and 
terminated the war against them in A. D. 184. 

3. The death of Commodus spread joy throughout Rome, and 
the senate cursed his memory j the praetorians alone were dissatis- 
fied, for upon them he had most lavishly squandered the treasures 
of the empire. His murderers proclaimed Pertinax, the prefect 
of the city, emperor, and he accepted the proifered dignity not 
without great reluctance. In order to replenish the empty 
treasury, he sold all the costly and luxurious furniture, the mis- 
tresses and favourite boys of Commodus, and commenced a series 
of useful reforms. But the praetorians, vexed at the attempts to 
curb their licentiousness, which had been connived at by Com- 
modus, rose in open rebellion, and Pertinax was murdered before 
the end of March, after a reign of scarcely three months. This 
murder was the commencement of a state of perfect anarchy. 
The praetorians, who now amounted to sixteen thousand men, as- 
cended the walls of their fortified barracks, and ofi'ered the 
sovereignty to the man who would give them the largest donative. 
All competitors were outbidden by the wealthy glutton Didius 
Julianus, who promised to give to every praetorian about one 
hundred and eighty pounds, and was accordingly proclaimed em- 
peror. The senate, however, detested him, and the people refusing 
to recognise him, took up arms. The praetorians also grew luke- 
warm in his defence, as he did not at once give them the pro- 
mised sum of money. At the same time the army in Syria pro- 
claimed Pescennius Niger, and the legions of Illyricum raised 
Septimius Severus to the imperial dignity. The latter, wiser than 
his competitor, advanced with his army into Italy ; Didius 
Julianus, who in vain offered to share the government with him. 
Was put to death by order of the senate on the 1st of July, and 
Severus was recognised as emperor. 

4. Septimius Severus, after being raised to the throne, deter- 
mined to maintain himself by inexorable severity. Disbanding 
the praetorian guards, he selected others four times more nu- 
merous, and instituted a complete military despotism. He then 

! marched to the East against Pescennius Miger; three battles were 
; fought, and it was only in the third, in the neighbourhood of 
; Issus, A. D. 194, that Niger was completely defeated ; he was 

I 
\ 



400 HISTORY OF ROME. 

afterwards killed while endeavouring to escape by flight. The- 
city of Byzantium, which was in the hands of the partizans of 
Niger, was defended for two years by the valour of its garrison 
and its strong fortifications; but when in the end it was compelled 
by fiimine to surrender, Severus took fearful vengeance, and or- 
dered its fortifications to be demolished, whereby he unwisely de- 
prived the empire of one of its strong frontier fortresses. Clodius 
Albinus, the governor of Britain, who had openly declared him- 
self against Didius Julianus and Niger, was rewarded by Severus 
with the title of Caesar, which conferred upon him the right of 
succession ; but afterwards discovering that Severus had firmed a i 
plan fur procuring his assassination, he took up arms against him, . 
and found many followers among those who were displeased with 
the emperor's severity. The latter accordingly was obliged to > 
hasten from the East to Gaul, where a schoolmaster had already 
collected an army for him. Clodius Albinus was defeated in A. D. 

197 near Lyons in Gaul : he himself perished, and all his friends 
and relations were put to death with cruel tortures. On his re- 
turn to Rome the emperor behaved with equal sternness. In A. D. 

198 he made a successful expedition against the Parthians, whom 
he deprived of the province of Mesopotamia together with the 
towns of Dara and Nisibis ; but Atra in Arabia was besieged in 
vain. He also paid a visit to Egypt, where some new regulations 
were made. When at length he had got rid of all his com- 
petitors and felt himself safe in the possession of the sovereignty, 
he endeavoured to improve the laws, and through them public 
morality; in these endeavours he was assisted by the great jurists 
Papinian and Ulpian, who may be termed his ministers of justice. 
At the same time he took upon himself the whole administration 
of the empire, — its finances, and its stores, thereby depriving the 
senate of nearly all its powers. In a. d. 208 the Caledonians re- 
peated their invasion of the north of England, in consequence of 
which he proceeded to Britain, taking with him his two sons An- 
toninus Caracalla and Septimius Geta. He penetrated indeed for 
into the northern part of Britain, but sustained severe losses, until 
in A D. 210 he succeeded in compelling the Caledonians to submit, 
and completed the fortification which had been erected between the 
Solway and Tyne. While engaged in this manner he was taken 
ill; gi-ief at the faithless conduct of his son Caracalla aggravated 
his illness, and he died at York on the 4th of February A. D. 211. 

5. The two brothers Caracalla and Geta, who had both been 
destined by their father to succeed him, concluded a treaty with 
the Caledonians, who had again revolted, and then retui-ned to 
Home. The hatred which they had cherished against each other 
from their boyhood now burst forth with greater animosity, and it 
was in vain that their mother Julia Domna attempted to bring 



CARACALLA. 401 

about a reconciliation : Caracalla, the more cruel of the two, 
caused his brother to be murdered in the very arms of his mother, 
and then declared him to be a god, A. D. 212. No one, however, 
was allowed to mention the name of Geta, and all his friends were 
put to death. Among these victims was Caracalla's own instructor, 
the great jurist Papiuian, who refused to justify the fratricide. 
Besides these, thousands of others were murdered in order that the 
tyrant might gain possession of their property. When these 
means no longer sufficed to provide him with what he wanted to 
gratify his lusts, he deteriorated the coinage, and in order to be 
able to increase the taxes, conferred the Koman franchise upon all 
free-born subjects of the empire. But all these things made his 
name so odious at Rome that he felt uneasy, and resolved to travel 
through the various countries of the empire, all of which were 
now equally robbed and plundered, and deprived of their best in- 
habitants. Thus he devastated Gaul in A. D. 213, and in the year 
following, he was obliged to purchase peace of the Germans, not- 
withstanding which he assumed the title Germanicus. After this 
he traversed Macedonia, aping Alexander the Great in his dress, 
gestures, and the inclination of the head ; thence he proceeded to 
Asia Minor, where he imitated Achilles. Osrhotine was made by 
him a Roman province, but an attempt upon Armenia failed At 
last he arrived in Alexandria, where some pasquinades upon him 
had been circulated. For this oifence he now punished the city, 
in A. D. 215, by ordering the greater part of its inhabitants to be 
butchered by his soldiers. The place is said to have been literally 
deluged with blood. After this atrocity he proceeded to Antioch, 
being desirous to obtain the surname Parthicus. He gained his 
object, without fighting a battle, by treacherously causing Arta- 
banes, the king of the Parthians, to be put to death. But on his 
return he himself was murdered, on the 8th of April, A. D. 217, 
near Edessa by his own soldiers, headed by Macrinus, the prefect 
of the praetorians. His memory was cursed and his name effaced 
from all public monuments. 

6. Macrinus, the murderer, was then proclaimed emperor by the 
soldiers, and continued the war against the Parthians, but without 
success, and was obliged to purchase peace of them with an enor- 
mous sum of money. The Roman senate disliked Macrinus, because, 
being himself a Mauritanian of low origin, he raised vulgar persons 
to rank and station, and with the soldiers he was unpopular, on 
account of Lis harshness. Maesa, a sister of Julia Domna, the wife 
of Septimius Severus, accordingly had no difficulty in exciting the 
soldiers against him, and persuading them to confer the imperial 
dignity upon her own grandson f]lagabalus, a priest of the Sun at 
Emesa. This happened on the 8th of June A. D. 218. In the 
ensuing struggle between the two emperors, Macrinus and his soa 
34* 



402 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Diadumcnianus were murdered at Clialcedon. The mad and brutal 
lusts, and the fearful extravagance of Elagabalus, however, soon 
created universal disgust. It would almost seem that at times he 
was actually labouring under insanity; he raised his grandmother 
to the rank of a senator, and instituted a senate of ladies, to honour 
his mother, and to determine the fashions and ceremonies. He' 
also introduced at Rome the Syrian worship of the Sun, by which 
he destroyed the last traces of the ancient Roman discipline and 
morality. As Maesa perceived that the Romans would not tolerate 
the young and cruel voluptuary much longer, she persuaded him to 
raise Alexander Severus, another grandson of hers, to the rank of 
Caesar; Elagabalus complied with the request, but finding that the 
Caesar daily rose in popularity, he attempted to murder him ; at 
length the praetorians, utterly disgusted with him, put him and his 
mother to death on the 11th of March a.d. 222. 

7. Alexander Severus was only in his seventeenth year when he 
ascended the throne ; he was a simple-hearted man of good moral 
principles, who made many useful regulations, and followed the 
advice of his intelligent mother Mammaea, who was well disposed 
towards the Christians; but he did not possess the strength of 
character required by the exigencies of the times. Assisted in the 
government by his mother and a council of sixteen senators, he 
endeavoured to restrain within proper bounds the lascivious man- 
ners of his subjects, exiled useless servants and faithless governors 
of provinces, promoted commerce, and reduced oppressive taxes. 
Notwithstanding all this, attempts were made to dethrone him, and 
the praetorians, exasperated at the severity of the great jurist Ulpian, 
murdered him with impunity before the emperor's own eyes, A. D. 
228. Alexander Severus had not only to contend with enemies at 
home, but the frontiers of the empire were threatened by foreign 
foes. In A. D. 226, the Persians under Artaxerxes (Ardishir) over- 
turned the kingdom of the Parthians, and founded the dynasty of 
the Sassanidae, so called from Artaxerxes being a son of Sassan. 
The object of the new rulers was to restore the ancient Per&ian 
empire in its whole extent, and accordingly they invaded Mesopo- 
tamia and Syria. The feeble garrisons were unable to ofler any 
effective resistance, and some even went over to the enemy. In 
A.D. 231 Alexander Severus himself proceeded to the East, and, 
having restored discipline among the troops, commenced a war 
against Artaxerxes, in which, according to some authorities, he was 
very successful against the proud Persian. At all events, the Per- 
sians for some time after this remained quiet or made conquests in 
other quarters. Severus returned to Rome in triumph a. d. 233, 
and soon after, being informed that German tribes were harassing 
Gaul, he hastened to the aid of the threatened province. But before 
he had an opportunity of fighting a battle, he and his mother were 



SUCCESSORS OF ALEXANDER SEVERUS. 403 

murdered in the camp near Mayeuee on the 10th of February 
A. D. 235, by his soldiers, wbo wanted a more valiant and liberal 
ruler. 

8. Maximinus, a rude Thracian, but a man of great bodily stren2:th 
and experience in war, was then proclaimed emperor by the soldiers. 
He was an enemy to the Christian relip^ion, and immediately on his 
accession, he showed the rudeness of his character, by causinij many 
of his own benefactors to be put to death, and dispatchino- all those 
who showed the slightest symptoms of attachment to others. He 
was, however, successful against the Germans, whose country he 
devastated far and wide. His elevation, which was not approved 
of by the Roman senate, threw the empire into such confusion, that 
within twenty years no less than twelve emperors were set up and 
deposed. In A. D. 238, the legions stationed in Africa, with the 
consent of the senate, proclaimed Gordian emperor, who beino- 
already at the advanced age of eighty, assumed his son as his col- 
league. This happened in the month of February, but in March 
of the same year, Capelianus, Maximinus' prefect of Mauritania, 
defeated and slew the younger Gordian in a battle, and drove the 
aged father to kill himself in despair. Terrified by this news, the 
senate raised two eminent senators, Maximus and Balbinus, to the 
imperial dignity, and by the demand of the people, Gordian, a boy 
of thirteen years, and a grandson of the elder Gordian, was raised 
to the rank of Caesar. In A. D. 238 Ma.\iminus advanced with his 
army from Germany into Italy. Terror preceded him everywhere, 
and the citizens leaving their unprotected homes took refuge in the 
fortresses, which the invader did not find it easy to take. While 
besieging Aquileia, the soldiers suffering from want, and seeing 
that the whole empire was opposed to Maximinus, put him and his 
son to death in the month of April, and joined the army of Maxi- 
mus, who was encamped in the neighbourhood of Ravenna. 

9. In the meantime the praetorian guards at Rome beinof dis- 
satisfied with the emperors Maximus and Balbinus, who had been 
appointed by the senate, murdered them in the month of July 
during the Capit)line games, and proclaimed young Gordian emperor. 
This boy, who was thus raised to the throne, was at first misled and 
deceived by dishonest advisers; but from A. D. 241, in which he 
married a daughter of Misitheus, he allowed himself to be guided 
by the prudent and disinterested advice of his father-in-law. In 
the same year the Persians renewed the war with greater vehemence 
than ever under their king kSapor I. ; and Gordian, accompanied by 
3Jisitheus, set out for the East, and drove the enemy from Syria 
and Mesopotamia, which had been ravaged by them. Unfortunately 
Misitheus died two years later, and Philippus, an Arab by birth, 
who was appointed his successor as prefect of the praetorians, stirred 
up a mutinous spirit among the soldiers. By this means he com- 



404 HISTORY OF ROME. 

polled Gordian to make him his colleague in the empire, and after- 
wards, in the month of April A. D. 244, caused the young prince 
to be murdered near Circesium on the conjfines of Assyria. Philippus 
then concluded peace with the Persians and returned to Rome, where 
he favoured the Christians, and carried on the government not with- 
out wisdom and moderation ; but these very circumstances combined 
with his eastern origin made him unpopular, and it was in vain that, 
in A. D. 247, he entertained the people with magnificent ludi saecu- 
hires to commemorate the thousand years' existence of Rome. In 
A. D. 249 the legions stationed in Moesia compelled Decius against 
his will to assume the imperial dignity. He informed Philippus by 
letter that he would resign his power as soon as he arrived at Rome, 
but Philippus, distrusting him, marched with an army to the north 
of Italy, where he was defeated and killed in a battle near Verona. 
10. Decius ascended the throne about the middle of A. D. 249, 
and after quelling some disturbances in Gaul, returned to Rome, 
where he commenced a fearful persecution of the Christians through- 
out the empire, and endeavoured by the revival of ancient institu- 
tions to check the downward course of the empire. But it was in 
vain, and the more the state suffered from internal decay and dis- 
solution, the more did the barbarians on the frontiers, especially the 
Germans, become emboldened. The Goths, a numerous German 
tribe, who first appear in history as inhabitants of the banks of the 
"Vistula, had advanced southward to the frontiers of Dacia as early 
as the time of Caracalla. In alliance with many other German 
tribes, and commanded by their own kings, they first attacked the 
provinces about the Danube. In A. D. 250, the Goth Cniva, with 
an army of seventy thousand men, crossed the Danube, and ad- 
vanced as far as Philippopolis in Thrace ; Decius marched into 
Thrace, and succeeded in driving the barbarians back across the 
Danube, but owing to the treachery of his own general Gallus Tre- 
bonianus, he was killed with his son during an engagement in a 
marshy district of Moesia, A. D. 251. Gallus, who was then pro- 
claimed emperor by the legions, made Hostilianus, a son of the 
brave Decius, his colleague in the empire, and his own son Volusi- 
anus was raised to the rank of Caesar. A pestilence was then 
beginning to rage in all parts of the empire, and continuing for the 
long period of fifteen years, carried oflF a vast multitude of men. 
Hostilianus was one of its victims in A. D. 252. Throughout this 
time, Gallus remained inactive at Rome, v/hile the Goths and other 
tribes again invaded Moesia and Pannonia. But his brave general 
JEmilius ^Emilianus repelled the enemy, and, proud of his victory, 
accepted the purple offered to him by his soldiers. The new empe- 
ror forthwith proceeded with his army to Italy; Gallus met the 
usurper in Umbria, but both he and his son Volusianus were put 
to death by their mutinous soldiers, in May A. D. 253. Emilia- 



GALLIENUS. 405 

nus now took possession of the throne, but scarcely four months 
hiter he too was killed by his faithless soldiers in the neighbourhood 
of Spoloto. 

11. Just at this time, Valerian, a most distinguished man, and a 
friend of Gallus, was approaching Italy with Gallic and German ' 
legions to avenge the murder of his friend. His army at once 
saluted him as emperor; in Rome, too, his arrival was welcomed, 
and he appointed his own son Gallienus his colleague in the admin- 
istration of the empire. He did all he could to restore the internal 
tranquillity of the eminre, carefully watched over the execution of 
justice, and reduced obnoxious taxes; but unfortunately he had not 
much leisure to devote to these internal reforms, for the empire was 
at the time threatened on all sides; the Franks and Alemanni were 
crossing the Rhine, the Goths invaded Moesia, and the Persians in 
the East, under thi'.ir powerful king Sapor, crossed the Euphrates 
and even made themselves masters of Antioch. Gallienus, or rather 
his brave legate Postumus, in A. D. 256 fought successfully against 
the Franks, a confederation of German tribes dwelling between the 
Rhine and the Weser, such as the Bructeri, Sigambri, and Chatti. 
Valerian himself, in A. D. 258, marched against the Persians, reco- 
vered Antioch, and penetrated into Mesopotamia; but two years 
later, he was defeated and taken prisoner by the Persians, in the 
neighbourhood of Edessa. Valerian never recovered his freedom, 
but remained in captivity until his death, enduring the most inso- 
lent treatment at the hands of his enemies, who now recovered An- 
tioch and even made conquests in Asia Minor, until the Roman 
general Ealista forced them to return across the Euphrates. 

12. From A. D, 260, Gallienus was sole emperor until A. D. 268, 
and, on the whole, did his best to promote the prosperity of the 
empire. But things had come to a pass when it required more than 
huiuan strength to keep the tottering edifice together. In the 
reign of Gallienus, insurrections broke out in nearly all the pro- 
vinces of the empire, each of which proclaimed its own sovereign. 
Tills period is foolishly called the piriodof the Thirty Tyrants, from 
the thirty who governed Athens after the close of the Peloponne- 
sian war; for the number of pretenders to the imperial throne did 
not amcuut to more than Jiineteen or twenty. While the empire 
thus seemed to fall to pieces, the barbarians invaded it on all sides ; 
the Franks and Alemannians advanced as far as Italy, the Quadi 
even entered Spain, and the Goths Asia Minor. The Isauri in 
Asia revolted and became for ever separated from the empire. In 
Palmyra, Odenathus made himself independent, after having 
defeated the Persians, and his independence was recognised by 
Gallienus in A. D. 201. The ancient city of Palmyra, situated in 
an oasis in the Syrian desert, and said to have been built by Solo- 
mon, had become wealthy and powerful through commerce; and in 



406 HISTORYOFROME. 

the time of Hadrian and the Antonines, it was a great centre of 
Greek art and culture. The splendid ruins of Palmyra, which were 
discovered about the end of the seventeenth century, still attest its 
ancient magnilicence. Postumus, who had defeated the Franks, set 
himself up as emperor in Gaul, A. D. 258, and maintained himself 
for nearly seven years, after which he was murdered by his soldiers, 
because he would not allow them to plunder the rebellious city of 
Mayence. Macrianus, the commander in Syria, by whose treachery 
Valerian had fallen into the hands of the Persians, assumed the 
imperial purple in A. D. 261, and appointed his two sons his col- 
leagues; but he was conquered by Odenathus, who, in A. D. 264, 
Ivas made the colleague of Gallienus. Three years later Odenathus 
was killed by a relative, and his wife Zenobia, who undertook the 
government of her kingdom, became the real founder of the empire 
of Palmyra in Syria. Egypt was in the meantime ravaged by 
plague and civil wars. The other usurpers, such as Valens, Piso, 
Tetricus, and others, did not maintain their power for any length 
of time. The last of them was Aureolus, who assumed the purple 
in Raetia, A. D. 262. Gallienus, assembling all his forces, besieged 
him at Milan ; but, in the beginning of A. D. 268, a conspiracy was 
formed against Gallienus, who was assassinated in his camp before 
Milan. Aureolus, however, was unable to maintain himself, and 
was killed in the same year, whereupon Claudius, surnamed Gothi- 
cus, was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers. 

13. Claudius had already distinguished himself as a brave war- 
rior, and a lover of strict justice, and now commenced the restora- 
tion of the empire by successful campaigns against the barbarians. 
The Alemanni, who had invaded Italy, were defeated near Lake 
Benacus, and in A. D. 269 he set out against the Goths, who had 
penetrated into Macedonia, and were besieging the towns of Cassan- 
dreia and Thessalonica. In a decisive battle near Naissus in Ser- 
bia, the Goths were overpowered and compelled to retrace their 
steps. But not long afterwards, in the month of April, A. D. 270, 
the emperor died at Sirmium, of a disease which carried off thou- 
sands both of Romans and Goths. At the time of his death, Clau- 
dius was preparing for an expedition against Zenobia, who had sub- 
dued Syria and Egypt. After his death the legions at Aquileia 
proclaimed his brother Quintullus, who, on hearing that the legions 
on the Danube had offered the purple to Aurelian, ordered his veins 
to be opened, and died on the seventeenth day after his accession. 

14. Aurelian, a native of Pannonia, completed the work so 
nobly commenced by Claudius, and became the real restorer of the 
Roman empire. After a brief visit to Rome he marched against 
the Goths and their allies, and a battle having been fought on the 
banks of the Danube, in which neither party could claim a decisive 
victory, he concluded a peace, in which the province of Dacia was 



P R B u s . 407 

given up to the Goths. Tranquillity being thus restored in that 
quarter, he proceeded, in A. D. 272, to the East against Zenobia, 
and, after several victories over the queen recovered Syria, while 
his leg:ite Prubus was equally successful in Egypt. In the follow- 
ing year he besieged Zenobia in her own capital of Palmyra, and, 
on the surrender of the city, made her his prisoner; but as the 
city soon after revolted, Aurelian ordered it to be destroyed. 
Having thus reunited' Syria, Mesopotamia, and Egypt with the 
empire, he returned to Europe, and forthwith made war against 
Tetricus, who still maintained himself in Gaul. In a battle near 
Chalons, in A. D. 274, Tetricus, who did not feel safe among his 
own troops, went over to Aurelian, by whom he was kindly treated. 
The emperor returned to Home, and celebrated a triumph, adorned 
by the presence of Zenobia, such as the city had not seen for a 
long time. He now endeavoured, by internal reforms, to amelio- 
rate the condition of his subjects, and restore ancient morality and 
simplicity; but his wise measures were not always well received by 
the demoralised people. It also gave offence that he assumed the 
diadem, which no emperor had done before him. In order to give 
occupation to his restless legions, he undertook an expedition 
against the Persians, who still defied the majesty of Rome; but in 
March A. D. 275 he was murdered, on his road between He- 
racleia and Byzantium, by his own servants, who had reason to 
fear his severity. 

15. The soldiers not having a general of sufficient popularity 
among them, reduested the senate to appoint a successor ; but as 
emperors nominated by the senate had generally been rejected by 
the soldiers, the senate at first declined, and several months elapsed 
in correspondence, until in September the senate offered the im- 
perial dignity to Claudius Tacitus, a venerable senator of the age 
of seventy-five. After his elevation he immediately proceeded to 
the East, where he was welcomed by the army. He repelled the 
Alani, who had invaded Cappadocia, and advanced as far as mount 
Caucasus to carry on the war against the Persians, but in con- 
sequence of his exertions he was seized with an illness, of which 
he died on the 12th of April A. D. 276. His brother Annius 
Florianus assumed the imperial dignity, but scarcely three months 
later he was murdered by his own soldiers at Tarsus, as it became 
known that Tacitus had recommended Probus, the commander of 
the eastern forces, who was very popular among the soldiers. 
Probus' antecedents were very promising, and after his accession to 
the empire, he displayed qualities both of a great general and an 
able ruler. After having paid a visit to Rome, he marched with a 
strong army into Gaul, a great part of which was occupied by the 
German tribes of the Franks, Lygians, Burgundians, and Vandals. 
He rescued sixty large towns from them, pursued them across the 



408 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Rhine, and in G-ermany itself established Roman garrisons as colo- 
nies, securing the conquered country by a strong wall extending 
from Ratisbon to the banks of the Neckar and the Rhine. 
Having extended and secured the frontiers in that quarter and 
subdued some rebels in Gaul, he marched to Illyricum and 
Thrace, where he conquered the Sarmatians and the tribes of the 
Getae ; then crossing over into Asia Minor and restoring peace in 
some of its provinces, he advanced into Syria and Egypt. In the 
latter country he expelled the Blemmyae, a Nubian tribe, which 
had made itself master of several towns, A. D. 279. The Persian 
king Narses, alarmed by the empero!-'s success, concluded peace 
with him. From Egypt Probus returned to Thrace, and trans- 
planted one hundred thousand Bastarnae and other tribes from the 
left bank of the Danube into Thrace. He then celebrated a great 
triumph at Rome over the Germans and Blemmyae. As peace was 
now restored in all parts of the empire, he began employing his 
armies in various useful works, such as the rebuilding of ruined 
towns, draining of marshes, and the like ; but the severity with 
which he exacted these services called forth a formidable insurrec- 
tion, during which, in the month of September A. D. 282, the in- 
furiated soldiers slew their excellent emperor, whose death they 
soon after deplored. He is said to have been the first to introduce 
the cultivation of the vine into Hungary and the countries on the 
Rhine. 

16. The legions now proclaimed Carus emperor. He was an 
able general, but too indulgent towards his two sons Carinus and 
Numerianus, on whom he conferred the dignity of Caesar. On 
receiving the news of the death of Probus, the Sarmatians invaded 
Thrace and Illyricum. Numerianus obtained the command against 
them and defeated them, while his brother was intrusted with the 
administration of the western provinces. In A. D. 283, Carus with 
Numerianus set out against the Persians, who were likewise pre- 
paring for war. The Romans were very successful : they ravaged 
Mesopotamia, took Seleucia and Ctesiphon, and even advanced 
beyond the Tigris, when suddenly Carus was killed by a flash of 
lightning, on the 25th of December A. D. 283. His sons were im- 
mediately recognised as emperors. Numerianus, who deserved to 
have lived in happier days, gave up the war with the Persians, and 
was murdered on his return, during a review of the troops, by his 
own father-in-law, in September A. D. 284. The army at once 
proclaimed Diocletian, a Dalmatian, who was then prefect of the 
praetorians, emperor. Carinus, the profligate son of Carus, en- 
deavoured to assert his claims, and set out against his rival, but 
near Margus in Serbia, he was killed by a man whose wife he had 
ill-used, in May A. D. 285, and the civil war was thus brought to a 
speedy termination. 



DIOCLETIAN. 409 



CHAPTEK XIX. 

lAtffi IKE ACCESSION OF DIOCLETIAN TO THE DIVISION OP 
THE EMPIRE, 

1. DnyOLETlAN, a tnau of humble origin, had worked his way 
up to the hignesi military stations by his prudence, talent, and 
ambition. Bis reign is particularly remarkable for the great 
changes he introduced in the administration of the empire. The 
despotism of the soldiers, who had until then appointed and de- 
posed emperors, was put an end to, every trace of »epublican Rome 
which yet remainea was done away with, and the spirit of the 
government and the cnaracter of the sovereign henceforth display 
much of what is commonly observed in Eastern despotisms. 
From this time the seat of the government was no longer ex- 
clusively at Rome, but Nicomedeia became the capital for the 
eastern provinces, Milan for Italy and the countries south of it, 
Treves for Gaul, Britain, and Spain, and Sirmium for Pannonia and 
lUyricum. The religion of the ancient world also was fast hasten- 
ing towards its final extinction, for Christianity had already ex- 
tended far and wide. Diocletian was quite conscious of the 
duties he had to perform ; but he also knew the dangers and diffi- 
culties he had to contend with, and in order to strengthen himself, 
assumed Maximian as his colleague in the imperial dignity. This 
man was a rude, but able soldier, and Diocletian, assigning to him 
the western parts of the empire, at once entrusted to him the war 
against the Grauls and Germans. In Gaul the Bagaudae, that is, 
the peasants, provoked by the oppression of their governors, had 
risen in arms against them; but Maximian defeated them in A. D. 
286. The Alemanni, who had invaded Raetia and the Gallic side 
of the Rhine, were driven back into their own country, which was 
ravaged by Maximian. It is about this time that we first hear of 
the Saxons, who infested the coasts of Britain and Gaul with their 
piratical fleets, and in conjunction with the Franks traversed and 
plundered the north of Gaul. Carausius, an experienced Belgian 
chief, was commissioned by Maximian to protect the coasts against 
those German pirates, but as after a while he drew upon himself 
the suspicion of favouring the barbarians, Maximian ordered him 
to be put to death. But Carausius escaped into Britain, where he 
assumed in A. D. 287 the imperial dignity, allied himself with the 
piratical Franks and Saxons, and maintained himself until A. D. 
293, when he fell by the hand of another usurper, Alectua, who 
ruled over Britain for a period of three years. 

2. While Maximian was thus engaged in Gaul and Germanyj 



^10 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Diocletian carried on a successful war against the invaders in Rae- 
tia, and then proceeded to Nicomedeia, in Asia Minor, which he 
had chosen for his residence. Thinking that the two emperors 
were not sufficient to protect the empire against both domestic and 
foreign enemies, Diocletian, in A. D. 292, nominated at Nicomedeia 
two Caesars, Constantius Chlorus and Galerius, both Illjrians, who 
by marriages connected themselves with the imperial families. The 
empire was then divided among the four rulers : Diocletian retained 
for himself the eastern provinces, Galerius obtained Thrace and the 
Danubian countries, Masimian Italy, Africa, and the western 
islands, while Constantius received Gaul, Spain, Britain, and Mau- 
ritania. The unity of the empire, however, was not affected by this 
division, for Diocletian was at the head of the whole, and in the 
internal administration none of his colleagues could undertake any- 
thing without his consent. The power of the praetorian guards 
was reduced, and Diocletian surrounded himself at Nicomedeia with 
all the pomp and ceremonial of an eastern despot. In the very 
year in which he divided his dominions, fresh enemies arose both 
within and without the empire ; the Persians threatened to invade 
Syria, some African tribes in Mauritania revolted, and soon after, 
Julian came fcrward as a usurper in Italy, and Achilles in Egypt. 
But the usurpers were easily overcome by Maximian and Diocle- 
tian, and the former also subdued the Mauritanians. In A. D. 295, 
Galerius conquered the Carpi, in the neighbourhood of the Carpa- 
thian mountains, and other tribes in the countries about the Da- 
nube, and then proceeded against the Persians. He was at first 
not very successful, but in the following year, the Persians were 
compelled in a pitched battle to sue for peace, in which they gave 
up all Mesopotamia, and even certain provinces beyond the Tigris, 
A. D. 298. lu the meantime Constantius expelled the Franks from 
Gaul and the country of the Batavi, crossed over into Britain, and 
defeating the usurper Alectus, reunited, in A. D. 296, Britain with 
the empire, from which it had been separated for ten years. Con- . 
stantius then returned to Gaul, and in A. D. 301, defeated the Ale- 
manni near Lingonae. In A. D. 303, the four sovereigns met at 
Eome, where they celebrated a splendid triumph, and consulted for 
a long time about the means to be adopted to prevent the spreading 
of Christianity. An edict was issued ordering all the Christian 
churches to be destroyed, the sacred books to be burned, the priests 
to be thrown into prison, and to use every means to extirpate the 
new religion. This decree, however, was not executed everywhere 
with the same rigour, especially in those parts where the mild and 
tolerant Constantius commanded. Shortly after this, Diocletian was 
taken ill, and returned to Nicomedeia, where, on the first of May, 
A. D. 305, he resigned his imperial dignity, and retired as a private 
person to his magnificent villa near Salonae, on the coast of Dalma- 



CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 411 

tia. Maximian was obliged against his own inclination, to take the 
same step at Milan on the same day. Diocletian died in A. D. 313. 

3. Immediately after the abdication of the two emperors, the two 
Caesars, Galerius and Constantius, were raised to the imperial dig- 
nity, and at once nominated two Caesars, Valerius Severus and 
Maximinus Daza, Italy and Africa being as^signed to the former, 
and Egypt and Syria to the latter. Constantine and Maxentius, 
che sons of Constantius and Maximian, were passed over in this 
arrangement. But when Constantine heard that his father was ill 
at York, he hastened thither from Rome, and on the death of Con- 
stantius, on the 25th of July, A. D. 306, at once undertook the ad- 
ministration of the provinces of his flither, and assumed the title of 
Caesar. Galerius, though reluctantly, recognised him in his as- 
sumed dignity, as he was very popular with the army. Galerius 
himself was so much detested at Rome, on account of his harshness 
and cruelty, that the praetorians, once more availing themselves of 
their ancient prerogative, proclaimed Maxentius, the son of Maxi- 
mian, emperor, and as Maximian himself also resumed the purple, 
the empire all at once had six rulers, and civil wars were unavoidable. 
In A. D. 307, Severus marched into Italy against Maxentius, but 
being deserted by his soldiers, he was put to death at Ravenna by 
Maximian. Galerius, then greatly enraged, marched with an army 
into Italy, and conferred the title of Augustus or emperor on his 
friend Licinius. Maximinus, who governed Egypt and Syria, also 
assumed the title of Augustus. The old and ambitious Maximian, 
unable to maintain himself in Italy, fled to Constantine at Treves. 
But as he was planning his destruction, he was betrayed and fled to 
the south of Gaul ; here he was obliged to surrender at Marseilles, 
A. D. 310, and hanged himself In the following year, Galerius died 
in consequence of his excesses; Maxentius through his legates reco- 
vered Africa, where a usurper of the name of Alexander had started 
up, and then prepared for war against Constantine ; but the latter, 
anticipating him, invaded northern Italy, and defeated him in a 
great battle, A. D. 312, near a place called Saxa Rubra. Maxentius 
took to flight, and as he was riding across the Milvian bridge, his 
horse took fright and threw him into tLe Tiber, where he was 
drowned. Having secured the possession of Italy and Rome, Con- 
stantine hastened back to the Rhine, repelled the Franks, crossed 
the river, and caused a stone bridge to be built over it at Cologne. 

4. While Constantine was thus successfully engaged against the 
Germans, a war broke out in the East between Licinius, who had 
man-ied a si.^ter of Constantine, and Maximinus, the ally of Max- 
entius. Maximinus sufiered a severe defeat at Adrianople, and was 
poisoned A. D. 313, at Tarsus, in Cilicia. Two sovereigns were now 
left, Constantine and Licinius, the former governing the West, and 
the latter the East. Peace might therefore have continued for some 



412 HISTORY OF ROME. 

time, but the two emperors were equally ambitious, and equall7 
faithless and crafty, and each was anxious to get rid of the other. 
Liciuius took part in a conspiracy against Constantino, who, on 
beino; informed of it, began a war, A. D. 314, and defeated the troops 
of his rival in two battles, at Cibalae in Pannonia, and at Adria- 
nople. A peace was then concluded, in which Licinius gave up to 
Constantino all Illyricum, with Macedonia and Greece. There now 
followed a period of tranquillity, which lasted for seven years, and 
during which Constantino regulated the administration of the em- 
pire, defeated the Groths, and received from them a corps of forty 
thousand men into his service. After this Constantino again di- 
rected his arms against Licinius, who cruelly persecuted the Chris- 
tians ; the two armies met at Adrianople, and on the 3d of July, 
A. D. 323, Licinius was completely defeated. He fled to Byzantium, 
whence he crossed over to Chalcedon, and being there beaten a 
second time, on the 18th of September, he surrendered to the con- 
queror, who stripped him of his purple, and promised to allow him 
to live in honourable retirement; but soon afterwards caused him 
to be strangled at Thcssalonica. 

5. After these severe struggles, which had lasted many years, 
Constantino, surnamed the Great, was the sole ruler of the empire. 
His faithlessness, his boundless ambition, and the heartless cruelty 
he displayed towards his friends and nearest relations, render it 
impossible to rank him among the good rulers. Even the good he 
did in protecting the Christian religion did not proceed from pure 
motives, but from a desire to promote his own interests, for Christi- 
anity exercised no influence on his character and conduct. But he 
nevertheless exercised an important influence upon Europe, by 
raising Christianity to the rank of the state religion, and by trans- 
ferring the seat of empire from Rome to Byzantium, which from 
him received its present name of Constantinople. He was at the 
same time the founder of the Court despotism, which he substituted 
for the military despotism, and of hierarchy in the Christian church. 

6. Even while yet only Caesar in Gaul, Constantino, imitating 
the example of bis fether, had protected the Christians in that 
province and in Britain ; during his war against Maxentius, he was 
induced, it is said, by the appearance of a cross in the sun, to adopt 
Christianity himself. In A. D. 313, he issued at Milan the memo- 
rable edict of toleration, which granted perfect religious liberty to 
all his subjects. The Christians thereby recovered their lost pro- 
perty, obtained access to the great ofliees of state, and permission 
to build churches. Christianity, which had even before been adopted 
by millions, now spread over all parts of the empire. Constantine 
himself Aras not drawn towards it by any inward desire, or by a 
conviction of its truth, but because he hoped by the help of the 
Christiann to crush his opponents who were hostile to Christianity. 



CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 413 

The disputes between the Arians and followers of Athanasius about 
the nature of the Redeemer, offered Constantine an opportunity at 
the general council of Nicaea, A. D. 325, to interfere in matters of 
ecclesiastical law. It was at this council that what is called ortho- 
doxy was first clearly defined. The pure and simple doctrines of 
Christ were more and more disfigured by decrees of councils; the 
clergy became more and more distinct from the laity ; the church 
acquired great privileges, jurisdiction, large domains, well-paid 
priests, a splendid outward ceremonial, until in the end the 
Christian religion sank down to a worship of images and relics. 
The bishop of Rome naturally claimed a higher power than his 
colleagues, and his pretensions were strengthened by the ftict, that 
the barbarous nations in the north-western provinces readily sub- 
mitted to the orders of the bishop of the great western capital. 
In this manner, and supported by the secular power of the empe- 
rors, the bishop of Rome was enabled gradually to develop the vast 
hierarchical system under which afterwards Europe groaned until 
the time of the Reformation. 

7. Rome, with all its ancient pagan and republican associations, 
was not a fit place for establishing the despotism of a Christian 
emperor, with his servile court ceremonial. Constantine accordingly 
selected Byzantium for the capital of the empire, which nature her- 
self seems to have destined to be the seat of a great empire. The 
building and extension of the city occupied nearly ten years, from 
A. D. 325 till A. D. 834, and cost enormous sums of money. But 
more important still, was the entire change of the government and 
administration, which was introduced by Constantine. The changes 
were entirely of an oriental character; his object was to give unity 
and compactness to the empire, and to secure to the throne as its 
centre the supreme power in every respect. He accordingly divided 
the empire into four prefectures, fourteen dioceses, and one hundred 
and sixteen provinces. The first prefecture, that of the East, con- 
tained five dioceses, viz., the East, Egypt, Pontus, Asia, and Thrace, 
all of which formed forty-eight provinces. The second prefecture, 
or Illyricum, contained the dioceses of Macedonia and Dacia, form- 
ing together eleven provinces, including Greece and Crete; the 
prefecture of Italy had three dioceses, Italy, the western part of 
Illyricum, with the countries south of the Danube, and Africa with 
the western islands of the Mediterranean, forming altogether twenty- 
nine provinces; the fourth prefecture, that of Gaul, forming three 
dioceses, Gaul, Spain, i.iid Britain, contained twenty-eight provinces. 
Rome and Constantino|;!e belonged to no prefecture, but had their 
own administration under prefects of the city. Each prefecture was 
governed by a pracfectus praetorio, who had no military power; 
the highest magistrate in a diocese was called vicarius, while the 
governor of a province bore the title of proconsul, consular, cor- 
35* 



414 HISTORY OF ROME. 

rector, or praeses. The civil and military powers were completely 
separated, and it was therefore necessary to create a number of new 
military dignitaries, all of whom stood under a commander-in-chief, 
called magister utriusque militiae. The emperor's court was con- 
stituted upon the model of that of Persia, and a vast number of 
court officials and dignitaries were appointed with a scrupulously 
distinguished gradation of rank. Consuls were still annually 
appointed both at Rome and at Constantinople, though the honour 
of the consulship was nothing but an expensive lu:^ry. 

8. The new and expensive system of administration, with its 
numerous officials, rendered it necessary to increase the taxes. The 
severity with which they were exacted, and the unfairness with which 
they were distributed, were in many instances the source of much 
unhappiness and discontent in the various provinces of the empire. 
Another circumstance which rendered an increase of the public 
revenue unavoidable, was the system of engaging mercenaries from 
among the barbarians, for at this time they formed the greater part 
of the Roman armies. The empire had been in a state of recovery 
ever since the time of Diocletian, and things were still improving 
during the reign of Constantino, notwithstanding the extremely 
heavy taxes. For after the defeat of Licinius, the empire enjoyed 
peace until A. D. 332, when the Goths, under their king Alaric, 
again crossed the Danube, and ravaged the country ; but they were 
driven back by Constantino ; and the Sarmatae, who had to suffer 
much from the Goths, were protected by the emperor, who in A. D. 
334 assigned habitations to three hundred thousand of them within 
the Roman empire, in Paunonia, Thrace, and Macedonia. During 
the last years of his life, Constantino favoured the Arians, whom 
he had formerly condemned as heretics; this change in his mind 
had been brought about by the Arian bishop Eusebius of Nico- 
medeia, at whose hands he also received baptism when he felt the 
end of his life approaching, for he believed that baptism would wipe 
away at once all the sins of his life. He died on the 22d of May 
A. D. 337 in his palace near Nicomedeia, while he was occupied 
with preparations against the Persians, who appear to have resolved 
to recover their lost provinces. 

9. Before his death, Constantino had divided the empire among 
his three sons, assigning Gaul to Constantino II., the East to Con- 
stantius, and Italy to Constans, while his two nephews, Dalmatius 
and Ilannibalianus, who were raised to the rank of Caesars, received 
Illyricum and the kingdoms of Armenia and Pontus. Constantius, 
after his father's death, hastened to Constantinople, and caused or 
allowed all his relations to be put to death ; no one was spared 
except Gallus, who was ill, and Julianus, who was a mere boy. 
The three brother emperors then met and made a new division of 
the empire, in which all Illyricum was added to the portion of 



SONS OF CONSTANTINE. 415 

Constans, and Africa was divided between him and Constantine. 
After tliis Constantius undertook with great vipjour the war against 
Persia, for which his father had ah-eady made preparations, and 
which detained him nearly all the remainder of his life in Syria. 
Constantine II., who resided at Treves, not being satisfied with the 
empire assigned to him, and wishing to rob his brother Constans 
of Italy, marched southward with his army, but in A. D. 340 he 
was defeated and killed near Aquileia, and his portion of the empire 
was taken possession of by Constans. Ten years later, Magnentius, 
a Frank, who had received a Roman education, was raised to the 
rank of Augustus at Autun (Augustodunura) in Gaul, and found 
numerous adherents. Leaving Gaul to his brother Decentius, he 
marched into Italy ; and Constans, whose vicious conduct had made 
him unpopular, both with the provincials and soldiers, was killed 
during his flight in a place at the foot of the Pyrenees. Mag- 
nentins thus became master of Italy. Simultaneously, Vetranio, a 
brave general, was raised by the army in Illyricum to the rank of 
Augustus ; but a few months later he abdicated, having received 
orders to do so from Constantius, who, leaving the management of 
the Persian war to Callus, proceeded against the usurper Mag- 
nentius. In the neighbourhood of Mursa in Pannonia, he gained 
a victory, A. D. 351, whereupon Magnentius withdrew to Italy. 
But being unable to maintain himself, he put an end to his life, 
A. D. 353. 

10. Constantius was now the sole ruler of the empire ; he was 
timid and suspicious, and completely under the control of women, 
eunuchs, and flatterers. He zealously engaged in the religious 
disputes of the time, though he did not adopt any fixed principles 
himself. While staying at Milan, he concluded a treaty with the 
Alemanni ; and as Gallus, who had been raised to the rank of 
Caesar, displayed too much ambition in the East, Constantius sum- 
moned him to come to Italy, and ordered him to be killed on his 
journey at Pola in Istria, A. D. 354. A similar fate was hanging 
over Julian, but the empress Eusebia averted it by her entreaties ; 
and Julian was banished to Athens, where he occupied himself with 
the study of philosophy. Shortly after this, the valiant general • 
Sylvanus, who had acquired great fame in his war against the Ger- 
mans, entered into connection with the Franks, and fearing the 
consequences of this step, assumed the title of Augustus at Cologne, 
in A. D. 355. But Ursicinus, a general of Constantius, and the 
historian Ammianus Marcellinus, speedily put an end to his usurpa- 
tion : he was dragged forth from a chapel and cut down by the 
soldiers. Constantius now recalled Julian, gave him his sister 
Helena to wife, and entrusted to him the administration of Gaul, 
which was ravaged by the Germans, for 6he Franks had taken 
Cologne, and the Alemanni had destroyed Strasburg and Maycuce. 



416 HISTORY OF ROME. 

Julian, tliougli he had not been broue;ht up as a soldier, first 
defeated the Alemanni, and then advancing to the lower Rhine 
recovered Cologne : in A. D. 357 he gained a great battle near 
Strasburg, in consequence of which the whole line from Basle to 
Cologne was freed from the enemies, who had to purchase peace. 
This success roused the jealousy of Constantius, who had in the 
meantime been engaged against the Germans on the Danube, and 
was now preparing to take the command against the Persians, 
because his lieutenants were unsuccessful in the East. But when 
he demanded from Julian a portion of his forces, the soldiers, with 
whom Julian was very popular, proclaimed him emperor, A. D. 300, 
at I'aris, where he had his winter quarters. This honour he had 
well deserved by his moderation and justice during the administra- 
tion of Gaul. Constantius rejected all offers to come to terms, and 
prepared for war. Julian therefore quickly set out and arrived in 
lllyricum, when unexpectedly Constantius died in Cilicia, on the 
Bd of November A. D. 361. 

11. Julian, surnamed the Apostate, was now sole Augustus. 
He owes his surname to the fact that, although brought up as a 
Christian, he renounced Christianity ten years before his accession, 
and being disgusted with the unprofitable disputes of the Christians, 
their monastic tendencies, and other abuses, exerted himself to 
restore the ancient pagan religion of the Romans, though he was 
not averse to borrowing some things from the Christians by which 
he thought Paganism might be improved; nor did he close the 
Christian churches, and in A. D. 363 he even allowed the Jews to 
rebuild their temple at Jerusalem. But fires bursting from the 
ground, and earthquakes, are said to have prevented the undertak- 
ing. Julian professed to imitate the example of Antoninus the phi- 
losopher, and set the example of abstinence and severity towards 
himself, in order to be able to demand the exercise of similar vir- 
tues from his subjects. He was thoroughly imbued with the spirit 
of the classical literature of Greece, and even during his most im- 
portant engagements he never neglected the cultivation of his own 
mind, as we still see from his writings. But his opposition to 
Christianity was an attempt to turn the current of a mighty river; 
paganism could not for any length of time maintain itself against 
the Christian religion, which oflFered to oppressed humanity conso- 
lation for present sufl'erings, and a prospect of a better life to come. 
After a stay of about eight months at Constantinople, Julian set out 
against the Persians. He entered Mesopotamia with a large army, 
and gained a great victory near Ctesiphon. He and his soldiers suf- 
fered much from want of provisions, the Persians having laid waste 
the counti-y during their retreat; but he pursued his objects with 
undaunted spirit, until, on the 20th of June, A. D. 363, he died 
of a wound, inflicted either by an enemy or by some incensed 
Christian. 



VALENTINIAN — VALENS. 417 

12. The army suffering severely from want in the desert steppes, 
and being hard pressed by the enemy, saluted Jovian as emperor. 
He was an intelligent and sincere professor of Christianity, though 
greatly addicted to sensual pleasures. The distressing circumstances 
in which the array was placed, rendered the conclusion of peace 
with the enemy unavoidable, however humiliating the terms were. 
The Persians thus recovered their five provinces beyond the Tigris, 
the great fortress of Nisibis, and other Mesopotamian towns. On 
his return to Constantinople, Jovian died at Dadastana, in Gralatia, 
on the 16th of February A. D. 364. In his short reign the Chris- 
tians recovered their former rights and privileges, though the pa- 
gans also enjoyed toleration. 

13. Ten days after the death of Jovian, the troops at NIcaea con- 
ferred the imperial dignity upon Valentinian, a Pannonian, who 
soon afterwards assumed his brother Valens as his colleague, and 
assigned to him the administration of the East, with Constantinople 
for his capital, while he himself undertook the government of the 
West. Valentinian was a wise and moderate ruler, permitting in 
religious matters every one to follow the dictates of his own con- 
science, but at the same time he was of an irascible temper. In 
A. D. 366, the Alemanni, who had again invaded Gaul, were re- 
pulsed by one of his generals, and in the following year the empe- 
ror, having recovered from a serious illness, raised his son Gratian 
to the rank of Augustus. At the same time the north of Roman 
Britain was much harassed by invasions of the Picts and Scots, 
against whom the ancient fortification of Antoninus was renewed 
In A. D. 368, the Alemanni, under their chief Rando, sacked and 
plundered the city of Mayence, which induced Valentinian, who was 
then residing at Paris, to wage war against them. He drove them 
across the Rhine, and defeated them in their own country. The 
next years were mainly spent in fortifying the banks of the Rhine 
against similar incursions. In A. D. 371, Saxon pirates infested the 
coasts of Gaul, and being surrounded by the Romans, were all 
treacherously cut to pieces, and at Treves, Valentinian and his son 
Gratian, who had been carefully educated by the poet Ausonius, 
celebrated splendid triumphs over the barbarians, on which occasion 
the orator Symmachus proclaimed their exploits to the world. As 
the Quadi and Sarmatians had invaded Pannonia, Valentinian 
marched against them, and crossing the Danube, fearfully ravaged 
their country, and butchered them without mercy. While in his 
winter quarters at Bregetio, some ambassadors of the Quadi appeared 
before him, and in his reply to them, he was seized with such a fit 
of anger, that he burst a blood-vessel, and died on the 17th of No- 
vember A. D. 375. 

14. Meanwhile hi^ brother V.-iImis, a passionate, cruel, and into- 
lerant prince, who persecuted all tlnwe who did not adopt the Arian 



418 HISTORY OF ROME. 

creed, had in the very jfirst year of his reign to contend with Proco- 
pius, who, while Valens was in Asia, had usurped the purple at 
Constantinople, and had gained over the Goths to his interest. But 
his successful career was cut short in A. D. 36G, in a defeat which 
he sustained in Phrygia. In order to chastise the Goths for having 
supported the usurper, Valens crossed the Danube and laid waste 
their country, until, in A. p. 870, the Visigoth, Athanaric, being 
completely exhausted, sought and obtained peace. Scarcely was 
tranquillity restored in that quarter, when the Persians interfered 
in the affairs of Armenia, which Valens took under his protection, 
though he did not venture to declare war. Being a zealous Arian, 
he caused the Arian doctrines to be preached to the Goths by their 
bishop Ulphilas, who is celebrated in history for having translated 
the Scriptures into the Moeso-Gothic language, for which purpose 
he contrived a Gothic alphabet based upon that of the Greeks. But 
the unfortunate Goths were not able to enjoy the blessings of Chris- 
tianity in peace, for a terrible hurricane which swept over their 
country from the East, drove them from their homes on the Danube 
and the Black Sea. 

15. The commotions which were then going on in the interior of 
Asia, form the beginning of what is generally called the migration 
of nations. The most formidable among these were the Huns, a 
Kalmuck or Mongol tribe, of ugly appearance (they are compared 
to walking lumps of flesh), which had from time immemorial tra- 
versed the steppes of Asia as nomadic hordes, and had made con- 
quests as far as (]hina. After long wanderings, a portion of this 
race, in A. D. 875, crossed the Volga, the Don, the sea of Azof, 
and threw themselves upon the Alani, a part of the Goths. Un- 
able to resist the invaders, the Alani partly submitted to them, and 
partly escaped to Mount Caucasus, where their descendants are said 
still to exist. The eastern Goths, or Ostrogoths, also called GJuth- 
rungi, dwelt between the lower Danube and the Dniester along the 
Euxine, while the western or Visigoths occupied the banks of the 
Danube. The shock of the Huns first fell upon the Ostrogoths, 
whose king, being too weak to ©O'er resistance, threw himself upon 
his own sword, leaving his kingdom a prey to the Huns. His suc- 
cessor Withimer, however, trying to oppose them, fell in battle, 
and his people withdrew to the Visigoths, whose king Athanaric 
determined to oppose the Huns; but he too was defeated, and es- 
caped into the inhospitable Carpathian mountains. The Thervingi, 
a portion of the Visigoths, in A. D. 376, implored the emperor Va- 
lens to assign to them within his empire the deserted districts of 
Moesia and Thrace. Valens granted their request on condition 
that, before crossing the Danube, they should give up their arms. 
A host of two hundred thousand men, with their wives and chil- 
dren, accordingly crossed the Danube. The sufferings of the Goths 



GRATIAN — THEODOSIUS. 419 

in the marshes and deserts of Moesia were immense, and their dis- 
tress was aggravated by the avarice of the Eoman governors. Their 
prince Fritigern, irritated by the brutality of the Romans, called 
bis people to arms, for they had evaded the demand to surrender 
them. The Goths then, accompanied by some Huns and Alani, 
fell upon the extensive plains of Thrace, devastating with fire and 
sword everything that came in their way between the Danube and 
the Hellespont. At length Valens marched with an army against 
them, but in a great battle near Adrianople, A. D. 378, he suffered 
a severe defeat. He took refuge in a cottage, which was set on fire 
by the barbarians, and Valens perished in the flames. Scarcely the 
third part of his army escaped. The whole country south of the 
Danube, including Thessaly and Greece, fell into the hands of the 
conquerors, the fortresses alone maintaining themselves. 

16. Gratian, the son of Valentiuian, had in the meantime sig- 
nalised himself in Gaul against the Alemanni, and after having de- 
feated them in A. D. 378 near Argentari, and compelled them to 
conclude a peace, in which they promised to furnish a contingent 
to the Roman army, he was preparing to hasten to the assistance 
of his uncle Valens; but being informed of his death, he raised 
Theodosius, a brave Spaniard, to the rank of Augustus, on the 
16th of January A. D. 379, and assigned to him the prefectures of 
the East and of Illyricum. Theodosius soon crushed the Goths in 
Thrace, and his quick and energetic measures so much increased 
the respect of the barbarians for him, that after the death of Fri- 
tigern, Athanaric concluded peace with the empire, and willingly 
furnished the Gothic auxiliary corps of forty thousand men, which 
had been instituted by Constantino the Great. The Visigoths now 
obtained permission to settle in Dacia and Moesia. In the mean- 
time, Gratian in the West, guided by bishops and hated by his 
soldiers, gave himself up to pleasure, rather than to his duties. 
The legions in Britain A. D. 383, raised Maximus to the dignity of 
emperor, and having assembled a large army, crossed over into 
Gaul. Gratian being betrayed by his own troops, endeavoured to 
escape into Italy, but was overtaken and killed at Lyons on the 
25th of August, A. D. 383. Maximus, although he obtained from 
Theodosius the title of Augustus, on condition of his not molesting 
young Valentinian II., who had been made Augustus in A. D.. 
375, when he was only four years old, nevertheless invaded Italy, 
where Valentinian was residing, and occupied the passes of the 
Alps, A. D. 387. Valentinian, with his mother Justina, fled to 
Theodosius at Thessalonica, who now married Galla, a sister of 
Valentinian, though he had two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, by 
his first wife, who had died. In A. D. 388 Theodosius set out 
against the fiithless usurper Maximus, who was delivered up by 



420 HISTORY OF ROME 

his own soldiers and put to death. Theodosius then went to Rome 
and appointed Arbogastes, a distinguished Frank, counsellor and 
guide of young Valentinian. Arbogastes after this was the real 
sovereign of the West, but Valentinian being anxious to get rid of 
his troublesome adviser, transferred his residence to Vienne on the 
Rhone, where soon after, on the 15th of May A. D. 392, he was 
murdered, probably at the instigation of Arbogastes. The cunning 
Frank, in order not to appear himself as a usurper, raised the 
learned and eloquent Eugenius to the imperial dignity; but in 
A. D. 394 Theodosius broke up from Constantinople on an expedi- 
tion against Arbogastes and Eugenius, and both were defeated near 
Aquileia : Eugenins was made prisoner and beheaded, and Arbo- 
gastes committed suicide. Theodosius now was the sole ruler of. 
the empire, but four months later he died at Milan on the 17th of 
January A. D. 395. 

17. Although Theodosius had managed the affairs of the empire 
with vigour and energy, yet the necessity of increasing the taxep 
threw a heavy burden upon the provinces, which had become de- 
populated and miserably devastated. In addition to this, the 
empire was shaken by the passionate zeal which Theodosius dis- 
played against the Arians in the East, and against the pagans, who, 
not daring to show their faces in the towns and cities, lived for the 
most part in retired country places (pagi), whence their name 
jKKjani or pagans. Bands of fanatic monks wandered about from 
place to place, destroying with impunity the finest monuments of 
ancient art, and contributing as much as they could towards bring- 
ing about what are called the dark ages. The great emperor him- 
self humbly submitted to the penance imposed on him by the stern 
Ambrose, bishop of Milan. When the usurper Maximus had left 
Britain, that province, being no longer protected by Roman garri- 
sons, was given up to the inroads ..of the Picts and Scots. From 
time to time small armies were indeed sent into the island, but they 
were unable to afford it any efficient protection, and the native 
Britons, who had become unwarlike under the Roman dominion, 
now were an easy prey to other conquerors. 



REIGN OF VESPASIAN. 421 



CHAPTER XX. 

FROM THE DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE, TO THE OVERTHROW 
OP THE WESTERN EMPIRE. 

1. Before liis death Theodosius had divided the empire between 
his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius. The former being a youth 
of only eighteen years, was placed under the guardianship of E,u- 
finus, a Gaul, and was to govern the eastern part of the empire, 
with Conetantinople for his residence. Honorius, who was only 
eleven years old, had received Flavius Stilicho, a Vandal, for his 
guardian, and was to govern the western parts of the empire, 
having his residence at Rome or Ravenna. The line of demarca- 
tion between the two divisions of the empire was formed by the 
Danube, so far as its course is from north to south, that is, from 
Waitzen to the mouth of the Drave ; then by the river Drino 
Blanco, which flows from the mountains of Macedonia towards the 
Save ; while further south the frontier was a line drawn through 
Scutari towards the head of the great Syrtis on the coast of Africa. 
Theodosius had not intended by this division to abolish the unity 
of the empire, but the internal condition of the two parts under 
existing circumstances could not but lead to a permanent separa- 
tion of the two empires, and thus accelerate the downfall of the 
western half, which was more exposed to attacks from without, and 
internally more decayed than the other. The policy of the eastern 
court, moreover, was to avert the attacks of the barbarians by di- 
recting them to the provinces of the west. Constantinople, lastly, 
was safer by its position and its fortifications than Rome, and able 
to defend and maintain itself even when all the provinces around it 
were in the hands of enemies. 

2. Honorius, who was of a sickly constitution and too young to 
take a part in public matters, remained in his palace at Ravenna 
enjoying and amusing himself, while the empire was threatened on 
the Rhine and Danube by invasions of barbarians. The adminis- 
tration and defence of the empire were left to Stilicho, the ablest 
man both at the court and in the camp. Perceiving the disadvan- 
tages of the separation of the empires at a time when unity was 
most needed, he attempted to reunite the two parts, but this in- 
volved him in an unfortunate quarrel with Rufinus. The Visigoths, 
then governed by their bold king Alaric, invaded Greece and de- 
vastated Thrace. Stilicho, indeed, ofiered his assistance to the 
eastern empire, but it was declined, because Rufinus suspected him. 
Stilicho, deeply mortified at this, caused Rufinus to be murdered 
by the Gothic troops stationed at Constantinople, on the 27th of 

36 



422 HISTORY OP ROME. 

November A. d. 395. But his successor, the eunuch Eutropius, 
and Gainas, the commander of the Goths in the eastern capital, 
now openly declared against Stilicho. The Goths under Alaric in 
the meantime traversed Greece, laying desolate the ■whole country, 
with the exception of Athens, and advanced even as far as Sparta. 
In A. D. 397 Stilicho went across, and surrounded them in Arca- 
dia, but owing to the carelessness of his officers, they escaped to 
Epirus. Arcadius, in order to propitiate the formidable Alaric, 
made him commander of Eastern Illyricum, and declared Stilicho 
an enemy of the empire. At the same time Eutropius induced 
Gildo, the commander in Africa, to revolt from Honorius, with the 
view to gain Africa for the Eastern empire. But the attempt 
failed, and in A. D. 398 the rebel was defeated and killed. Stilicho 
then went into Raetia and Gaul for the purpose of either maintain- 
ing or restoring friendly relations with the German tribes in the 
neighbourhood. 

3. After these events, Italy suffered all the miseries that can be 
inflicted on a country invaded by hordes of rude and rapacious bar- 
barians. Alaric the Visigoth was commissioned to carry into efi'ect 
the sentence which had been pronounced against Stilicho, and in 
A. D. 402 he undertook his first expedition ; but, probably induced 
by bribes, returned after his arrival before the strong fortress of 
Aquileia. In A. D. 403, however, he returned and plundered the 
country about the Po, the towns alone offering resistance. All 
Italy was in alarm; Honorius protected himself at Ravenna, and 
the Romans began putting their walls in a state of defence. But 
Stilicho quickly assembled an army in Raetia, and advanced against 
Alaric, whom he overtook near Pollentia. The success of the 
Romans was insignificant, although the poets Claudian and Pru- 
dentius composed poems in praise of Stilicho's victory. Alaric 
had so much frightened the Romans, that Honorius concluded a 
treaty with him, in which he gave up the western part of Illyricum 
and promised to pay him an annual tribute. Scarcely had Alaric 
quitted Italy, when a new and fearful invasion increased the suffer- 
ings of the Italians. In A. D. 406 the Gothic chief Radagaisus, 
accompanied by a host of two hundred thousand men, partly Goths 
and partly other Germans, being pressed onward by hordes from 
Asia, poured into Lombardy from the Alps. Stilicho surrounded 
and defeated them near Faesulae ; the greater part of the barbarians 
were taken prisoners, and Radagaisus was killed during his flight. 
But as Stilicho had been obliged for the purpose of protecting Italy 
to withdraw all the garrisons from Gaul, the Rhine was crossed by 
the Vandals, Alani, Burgundians, and Alemannians : horde fol- 
lowed upon horde, the towns on the Rhine were destroyed, and in 
A. D. 407 nearly the whole of Gaul, where the invaders were joined 
by the unfortunate Bagaudae, was ravaged. At the same time 



ALARIC. 423 

Constantine, a common soldier, usurped the imperial purple in 
Britain, and crossinn; over to the continent succeeded in subduing 
Gaul and Spain. Plonorius being quite powerless, was obliged to 
recognise his usurped power. 

4. As the tribute promised to Alaric was not paid, he appeared 
in A. D. 408 again on the frontiers of Italy demanding payment. 
The senate assembled to deliberate, and Stilicho advised the mem- 
bers to adhere to the promise made to the Goths, and pay the 
tribute. Some personal enemy suggested to the timid Honorius 
that Stilicho had probably entered into an understanding with 
Alaric in order to secure the succession to his son Eucherius. 
Upon this the credulous emperor ordered Stilicho, whose daughter 
was married to him, to be murdered on the 23d of August A. D. 408. 
All his relations and friends were, likewise put to death, and with a 
senseless cruelty, the emperor ordered the wives and children of 
thirty thousand Germans who served in the Roman army to be 
murdered. These soldiers, infuriated with rage, at once went over 
to Alaric, who, not obtaining the money he demanded, and hearing 
of Stilicho's fate, vowed to avenge him and crossed the Po. He 
straightway proceeded to Rome, which he commenced besieging. 
Famine and disease at length obliged the Romans to capitulate. 
Alaric was induced by a vast quantity of gold, silver, silk, and 
pepper, to depart. Some other promises which had been made, not 
being fulfilled, Alaric, reinforced by the troops of Adolphus, his 
brother-in-law, returned in A. D. 409 against Rome; he occupied 
Ostia, and compelled the terrified Romans to proclaim Attains, the 
city prefect, emperor. The Goths then entered Rome, and Alaric 
undertook the supreme command of the new emperor's forces, 
whereby he virtually possessed the sovereign power. Honorius 
still clinging to his post offered to share the imperial dignity with 
Attalus. When Alaric found that the emperor of his own choice 
proved an obstacle in his way, he stripped him of his purple in 
presence of the whole army, and attempted to come to an under- 
standing with Honorius ; but as his terms were not accepted, he 
gave vent to his rage and marched against Rome, which he took 
for the third time on the 24th of August A. D. 410. Although he 
wished to spare the city, the Goths plundered it and destroyed some 
parts by fire. Galla Placidia, the sister of Honorius, fell into Alaric's 
hands, and he carried her with him as a hostage ; after three days 
he left the city and marched southward with the intention of sailing 
to Sicily and Africa. But on his march thither he died at Cosenza. 

5. Alaric was succeeded by Adolphus, who led the troops back 
in the hope of making Rome the seat of his government. Placidia, 
who had been intrusted to his keeping, dissuaded him, and advised 
him to make peace with her brother. Two years thus passed away 
in negotiations, after which Adolphus, evacuating Italy, marched 



424 HISTORYOFROME. 

with his Goths into Gaul, where some usurpers had started up. The 
brave general Constantius easily put them down, and also made the 
emperor Constantine his prisoner, and put him to death, A. D. 411. 
Constans, a son of Constantine, still maintained himself at Vienne, 
but was soon after killed. All Gaul was thus recovered for Hono- 
rius ; but Jovinus, supported by the Burgundians, assumed the 
purple at Mayence. Adolphus at first made common cause with 
him, but in the end he turned his arms against him, made him his 
prisoner, and sent him captive to a general of Honorius. A definite 
peace was at length concluded between Adolphus and Honorius, 
and the former, marrying Plaeiiia, took up his residence in Gaul. 
But notwithstanding the peace, Constantius, the conqueror of Con- 
stantine, in A. D. 414, took up arms against Adolphus, and expelled 
him from Gaul. Adolphus then went to Barcelona in Spain, where 
in the following year he was murdered by one of his own servants. 
After an interval of a few days Wallia succeeded Adolphus, and 
became the founder of the empire of the Visigoths, of which Tou- 
louse was the capital, and which continued to flourish, until in 
A. D. 711 it was destroyed by the Arabs. It extended at first from 
the Garonne to the Ebro, but subsequently embraced the whole of 
Spain. Placidia married Constantius, whom Honorius in A. D. 421 
made his colleague in the empire. Constantius, however, died soon 
after at Ravenna ; after his withdrawal from Gaul, the Franks and 
Burgundians made themselves masters of the country without any 
opposition. The Burgundians founded an empire extending over 
the fertile fields of the Rhone, about Mount Jura and the countries 
on the upper and middle Rhine. The Franks, from whom the 
country derives its modern name, established themselves in the 
northern parts of Gaul. Britain had been left almost entirely to 
itself ever since the usurpation of Constantine ; but in A. D. 426 
the last garrisons were withdrawn, and the country was left to the 
invasions of the Saxons, Picts, and Scots. Thus one province of 
the empire was lost after another, while Honorius spent his time in 
indolence at Ravenna until his death in A. D. 423. 

G. Placidia had incurred the displeasure of her brother; at his 
death she was still staying at Constantinople with her son Valen- 
tinian, and as Honorius had made no arrangements about a succes- 
sor, his private secretary Joannes assumed the purple at Ravenna. 
Arcadius, the emperor of the East, had died in A. D. 408, and was 
succeeded by Theodosius XL, a boy of seven years, in whose name 
Anthemius, the praefectus praetorio, managed the affairs of the 
state with great prudence and wisdom. On the usurpation of 
Joannes, Theodosius II. raised Valentinian III., Placidia's son, 
then only six years old, to the imperial throne of the West, and 
sent an army against the usurper, who was defeated and put to 
death at Aquileia in A. D. 425. For a period of twenty-five years 



THE BARBARIANS IN AFRICA. 425 

Placidia managed the affiiirs of the empire in the name of her son 
Valeiitinian, but she was neither able to preserve nor restore any- 
thing during the general confusion of the time. Weakness was 
combined with demoralisation, and in the midst of plague, famine, 
and the ravages of barbarians, the Romans recklessly plunged into 
enjoyments and pleasures. The best provinces of the empire were 
lost. We have already noticed that Britain was finally given up in 
A. D. 426, notwithstanding the entreaties of the inhabitants, who 
were hard pressed by the Picts and Scots, so that in the end they 
were obliged to call in the assistance of the Angles and Saxons, 
two German tribes occupying the banks of the Elbe. The assist- 
ance was granted, but the Saxons being followed by other tribes, 
and being unwilling to quit Britain, turned against the natives, and 
permanently established themselves in Britain, about A. T>. 449. 

7. In Africa, the governor Bonifacius, against whom the am- 
bitious general Aetius had roused the suspicion of Placidia, was 
recalled; but thinking that his life was endangered, he refused 
obedience, and, A. D. 429, invited Genseric, king of the Vandals, 
who had been established in Spain ever since A. D. 409, to come 
over with an army to assist him. Genseric, with a host of eighty 
thousand barbarians, men, women, and children, crossed over into 
Africa. When at length the innocence of Bonifacius became 
known, and he wished to induce the Vandals to return to Spain, he 
found it impossible. He himself was defeated by them in a battle, 
and besieged at Hippo, where his friend St. Augustin died during 
the siege, A. D. 430. The whole province of Africa fell into the 
hands of those formidable barbarians, whose ravages in Spain and 
Africa have made their name proverbial. The fortresses Hippo, 
Cirta, and Carthage, maintained themselves for a time against 
them ; but Bonifacius, after repeated defeats, went to Placidia, 
who received him kindly. Aetius his enemy was now obliged to 
quit the court, and went to the Huns, with whom he had already 
had some transactions during the short reign of the usurper 
Joannes. Supported by an army of Huns, he returned into Italy, 
and as Bonifacius died soon after, Placidia felt herself obliged to 
restore him, in A. D. 433, to the office of commander-in-chief. But 
as it was impossible to continue the war against Genseric, Placidia, 
in A. D. 435, concluded peace with him, in which she formally 
ceded to him a part of Africa. Carthage still continued to belong 
to Home, but, in A. D. 439, Genseric took the city by surprise, and 
treated its inhabitants most cruelly. After this the war between 
the Romans and Vandals was still carried on for several years, and 
during that period the coasts of Sicily and Italy suffered severely, 
for the barbarians were excellent sailors, and kept up a powerful 
fleet. At length, in A. D. 442, the emperor Valentinian, finding 
himself disappointed in his hope of support from the East, agaic 
36* 



426 HISTORYOPROME. , 

concluded a treaty with Genseric, in wliicli Africa, with the ex- 
ception of IMauritania and western Numidia, was given up to the 
Vandals. Thus commenced the great empire of the Vandals in 
Africa, which continued to flourish as a maritime power for more 
than a century. But notwithstanding the peace, the barbariansj 
continued their piratical expeditions by sea in all directions. 

8. At that time, the Huns, under their king Attila, dwelt in 
Hungary, on the Danube, and in the plains of the Theiss. Attila 
was the terror of many kings and nations. In A. D. 441, he broke 
up with his hordes, many German tribes being obliged to join him, 
crossed the Danube, ravaged Moesia, and destroyed many towns. 
A similar invasion was made in A. D. 447, and on that occasion he 
carried his devastations as far as Constantinople and Thessaly. 
The emperor Theodosius had to purchase peace at an enormous 
price of the rapacious Hun, who treated the emperor and his am- 
bassadors with great insolence. Being determined to crush both 
empires, Attila, in A. D. 451, advanced towards the Rhine, which 
his forces crossed in several detachments. Many towns on the 
river, were reduced to ashes ; the king of the Burgundians was defeated 
and Orleans besieged. The Romans, under the able command of 
Aetius, had united with the Visigoths and other German inhabit- 
ants of Gaul, such as the Burgundians, the Alani, and the Franks 
in the north, when the Huns advanced towards the river Marne, 
A most bloody battle in the plains near Chalons decided the fate 
of Gaul and of Europe. The Huns were defeated chiefly through 
the valour of the Visigoth Theodoric, and after his fall, through 
that of his brave son Torismund. One hundred and sixty-two 
thousand dead are said to have covered the field of battle, and the 
surviving Huns returned to the regions whence they had come. 
But undismayed by this loss, Attila, in the following year, A. D. 
452, invaded Italy from Pannonia, probably invited by the licen- 
tious Honoria, a sister of Valentinian, who is said to have offered 
Attila her hand. He accordingly demanded her for his wife and a 
part of Italy as her portion. Aquileia was razed to the ground, 
and its inhabitants who escaped the sword are said to have taken 
refuge in the lagunes, and there to have built the town of Venice. 
Many other flourishing cities of Lombardy fell into the hands of 
the barbarians. Valentinian had no army to defend Italy, and 
Rome was in the greatest terror. An embassy, headed by the 
Roman bishop Leo I., was despatched with rich presents to Attila, 
and at length induced him to depart. He did so, however, per- 
sisting in his demand that Honoria should be given up to him, 
and threatening to return if this were not complied with. On his 
way back he once more invaded Gaul, but Terismund and the Visi- 
goths hastened to the assistance of the Alani, and defeated the 
iluns, whereupon they returned to the Danube. In the following 



VANDALS IN ROME. 427 

year, A. d. 453, Attila suddenly died, and as the terror of his name 
no longer kept the nations together which he had united under his 
terrible rule, they, but especially the Gepidae, Ostrogoths, Suevi, 
and Heruli, made themselves free. The Ostrogoths obtained habi- 
tations between Sirmium and Vindobona. Scarcely had Aetius 
averted the great danger from the empire, when the voluptuous 
and superstitious Valentinian began to suspect him, and in A. D. 
454 plunged his sword into the breast of the only general capable 
of saving his empire. Soon after a conspiracy was formed against 
Valentinian himself, in consequence of which he was murdered on 
the 16th of March A. D. 455. 

In the East, Theolosius II. had died in A. D. 450, after a reiga 
remarkable only for the formation of the Codex Theodosianun, 
which was drawn up by his command in A. D. 438, and contains 
all the constitutions of the emperors from the time of Constantine 
the Great. His daughter Pulcheria married Marcianus, who was 
declared emperor, and reigned till A. D. 457. 

After the murder of Valentinian, nine emperors succeeded one 
another in rapid succession, and the tottering remnant of the empire 
was kept together only by barbarian mercenaries. The day after 
the murder of Valentinian, his murderer Maximus assumed the 
purple, and forced his widow Eudoxia to marry him. In order to 
avenge herself, she invited, it is said, Genseric to come to Italy to 
assist her. The Vandal landed with a large fleet at Porto, near 
the mouth of the Tiber, and marched towards Home. All who 
could make their escape took to flight, and the emperor himself 
would have run away had not a formidable insurrection broken out, 
during which he was slain by a soldier. His body was torn to 
pieces and thrown into the Tiber. After this, about the beginning 
of June A. D. 455, the Vandals entered Home, and for fourteen 
days plundered and sacked it. All the remaining treasures of the 
imperial palaces, the temples, and the houses of the nobles, and 
everything which was thought worth carrying away, were seized by 
the barbarians and conveyed to Africa. A whole shipload of bronze 
statues perished on their way to Carthage. The principal churches 
and buildings themselves, however, were spared, and a few houses 
only were destroyed by fire during those days of terror. Several 
thousand prisoners, and among them the empress Eudoxia and a 
number of senators, were carried to Africa. After the departure 
of the Vandals, who during their stay also plundered and ravaged 
Capua, Nola, and all Campania, the populace of Rome was diverted 
by games in the Circus, and forgot its wretchedness. 

10. In the meantime, the north-western part of Gaul was seized 
upon by Franks from the country of the Batavi and the lower 
llhine ; but the Roman commander ^gidius still maintained him- 
self with his army in the neighbourhood of Soissons, though he 



428 HISTORY OF ROME. 

was surronncied by Goths, Burccnndians, Alemannia.ns, and Franks. 
His son Syagrius also continued to reign as an independent Roman 
prince in tiie same district, until in A. D. 486 he was attacked by 
the great Prankish king Clovis, who in the battle of Soissons 
destroyed the last remnant of the Roman dominion in Gaul. At 
the time of the murder of Maximus, the imperial general Avitus 
was staying at Toulouse with Theodoric II., who on learning the 
fate of the emperor urged him to assume the purple and promised 
him his assistance. Avitus accordingly caused himself to be pro- 
claimed emperor on the lOtli of July A. D. 455. The Gallic legions 
at Aries at once recognised the new emperor; bnt when soon after- 
wards he entered Italy, he was arrested at Placentia, a conspiracy 
having been formed against him by the powerful general Ricimer. 
In consequence of this, Avitus was obliged to abdicate on the 16th 
of October A. D. 456. This Ricimer, who was descended from 
Wallia, the king of the Visigoths, and had defeated the fleet of 
Genseric, being the commander of the foreign mercenaries in the 
pay of the Romans, henceforth disposed at his pleasure of the impe- 
rial throne for a period of sixteen years, but at the same time 
endeavoured to protect the empire against the Vandals, Alani, 
Ostrogoths, and Franks. 

11. After the abdication of Avitus, the throne of the western 
empire remained unoccupied for more than a twelvemonth, until 
at the end of A. D. 457, Majorian, a friend of Ricimer, was invested 
with the purple at the request of the senate and people of Rome. 
Majorian was a brave soldier, who fought against the Burgundians 
in Gaul, and the Vandals in Africa, and did his best to promote 
the good of the yet remaining pi'ovinces of the empire. Pie equipped 
a large fleet against Genseric, and in A. D. 460 proceeded to Spain, 
in order to cross over into Africa and attack the Vandals in their 
own country. But they contrived treacherously to intercept a large 
part of the transports, and thus frustrated the whole undertaking. 
On his return to Rome, Ricimer caused him to be deposed, A. D. 461, 
and soon afterwards ordered him to be put to death. Thereupon 
Ricimer, on the 19th of November A. D. 461, proclaimed Libius 
Severus, a man not distinguished for anything, emperor at Ravenna, 
but carried on the government himself in the name of the nominal 
emperor. While these things were going on in Italy, ^gidius in 
Gaul, and Marcellinus in Dalmatia, made themselves independent 
of the empire, and governed their respective provinces as kings. 
Severus died in A. D. 465, either from poison or by his own hand, 
and Ricimer, without assuming the title of emperor, ruled as sove- 
reign, until, with the consent of the eastern emperor Leo, the 
Greek patrician Anthemius was declared emperor of the West, 
A. D. 467. In order to secure Ricimer, the new emperor gave him 
his daughter in marriage. As the Vandals still continued by their 



ANTHEMIUS. 429 

piratical expeditions to cause fearful devastations, not only in Sicily 
and Italy but in Greece, the emperor'Leo of Constantinople resolved, 
in conjunction with Anthemius, to strike a decisive blow at them. 
Preparations were made upon a gigantic scale. The main army 
had already landed in Africa, and gained some advantages over the 
barbarians, when, through the folly or treachery of the general 
Basiliscus, a truce of five days was granted to Genseric, who, avail- 
ing himself of the respite, attacked the Greek fleet during the 
night with a number of fireships, and having destroyed half of it, 
compelled the rest to take to flight, A. D. 468. After the defeat. 
of this great undertaking Genseric was enabled with impunity to 
continue his devastations of both the western and eastern empires. 
Anthemius then fought, though unsuccessfully, in Gaul, against 
Euric, the king of the Visigoths, who subdued the Roman cities in 
Gaul and Spain, which still recognised the supremacy of Rome. 

12. In A. D. 472 the ambition of Ricimer was the cause of a 
civil war between him and Anthemius, in which the latter lost his 
life on the 11th of July. Ricimer took Rome by assault, and on 
the following day proclaimed Olybrius, a brother-in-law of Valen- 
tinian III., emperor. This civil war lasted only three months, but 
Rome sufi'ered most severely from famine, epidemics, conflagrations, 
murders, and rapine. On the 20th of August of the same year, 
Ricimer died, and as there was no one ambitious enough to seek to 
be invested with the purple, Gundobald, king of the Burgundians, 
caused Glycerius, a brave general, to be proclaimed emperor at 
Ravenna, A. D. 473. The court of Constantinople, however, not 
recognising him, conferred the dignity upon Julius Nepos, a prince 
of Dalmatia, who, in the month of^ May A. D. 474, took his rival 
prisoner, and made him bishop of Salona; but he in his turn was 
dethroned, in A. D. 475, by Orestes, who revolted in Gaul, whither 
he had been sent to settle a peace with the Visigoths. Nepos fled 
into Dalmatia, and Orestes by the votes of the soldiers conferred 
the imperial dignity upon his son Romulus, who on account of his 
youth was surnamed Augustulus. 

13. The numerous bodies of German mercenaries and allies in 
Italy, among whom Ileruli, Rugii, Scyrri, Turcilingi, and Goths 
are mentioned, were commanded by Odoacer, a chief of the Scyrri, 
and a man distinguished both for bodily strength and intelligence. 
"When Romulus Augustulus was proclaimed emperor, the soldiers 
demanded as a reward for their services that a third of the land in 
Italy should be assigned to them as their property. As Orestes, 
who spoke in the name of his son, refused to grant their request, all 
the German troops in Italy assembled under the banners of Odoacer ; 
they besieged Orestes in the strong fortress of Pavia, and having 
made him their prisoner, put him to death, on the 28th of August, 
A. D. 470, at Placentia. Ravenna also fell into the hands of the 



430 HISTORY OF ROME. 

conquerors, and the helpless Romulus Augustulus, whose life 
Odoacer spared on account of his youth, resigned his dignity of his 
own accord. Hereupon Odoacer, accepting the title of king of 
Italy, offered to him by his soldiers, though he did not use it among 
the Romans, for whom it was not suited, sent an ambassador to the 
court of Constantinople, intimating that Rome no longer required 
an emperor, and demanding for himself the title of patrician and 
prefect of the diocese of Italy. 

14. Thus ended the Roman empire of the West. Augustulus 
received a handsome annuity and withdrew to an estate in Cam- 
pania, where he spent the remainder of his life in quiet retirement. 
All Italy fell into the hands of the German soldiers, and Odoacer 
reigned for a period of fourteen years, during which the unfortunate 
country gradually recovered from its previous sufferings. But in 
A. D. 489 the kingdom of Odoacer was conquered by Theodoric, 
king of the Ostrogoths, who in A. D. 500 was recognised by the 
emperor of the East and entered Rome in triumph. The eastern 
empire, where Marcianus had been succeeded by Leo I. (a. d. 
457-474) and Zeno (a. d. 474-491), continued its existence for 
nearly a thousand years longer, but its history is that of a corrupt 
and contemptible court, in which only a few noble characters shine 
forth among the crowd of imbecile voluptuaries and tyrants. 

15. During the last hundred years the state of the west and south 
of Europe, if we except Greece, had gradually become quite different 
from what is generally understood by the name ancient, for paganism 
had given way to Christianity, and Rome had ceased to be mistress 
of the world. We cannot describe the changes which had been 
wrought in that part of Europ'e better than by saying that it had 
been Christianised and Germanised. The countries which Rome 
had ruled over during the previous five hundred years, and even 
Italy itself, had been invaded and conquered by barbarians of the 
Teutonic race, who established in Britain, Gaul, Spain, the south 
of Germany, Italy, and the north of Africa, new and independent 
kingdoms, and laid the foundation of an entirely new state of things. 
Those countries which had experienced all the blessings and all the 
curses of Roman civilisation, and had sunk with the empire into 
vice and wretchedness, were violently shaken and ravaged by the 
conquering barbarians, who in many instances destroyed almost 
every vestige of the ancient civilisation. But they could not destroy 
everything, for it is a law of history that, wherever a barbarous 
nation conquers a civilised people and rules over it, the barbarians 
gradually adopt the civilisation of the concjuered, and become 
absorbed by them. Hence the Teutonic tribes in Gaul, Spain, 
and Italy soon became Romanised, adopting the language, customs, 
and laws of the conquered people ; hence even at the present day 
these countries form the links which connect our modern civilisa- 



CONCLUSION. 431 

tion with that of the Roman empire, and their languages still are 
living monuments of the dominion of Rome. But the infusion of 
Teutonic blood into the demoralised and effete populations of south- 
western Europe was the beginning of their regeneration. This pro- 
cess was a slow one during the first thousand years, and could not 
be otherwise, so long as the spiritual tyranny exercised by the 
papacy over all Christendom kept the human mind in bondage. 
But ever since that bondage was broken in the sixteenth century, 
the advance of civilisation has been prodigious, and has at the 
present day reached a point which in many respects is much supe- 
rior to that of any country in the ancient world. We should, how- 
ever, learn modesty from the reflection that, with the example of 
the ancients before it, so many centuries have been spent before 
modern Europe reached the point at which it could stand any com- 
parison with the wonderful civilisation attained by many of the 
ancient nations more than two thousand years ago. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLK. 



THE ISRAELITES. 



* B.C. 4004 

*2400 

2000 

1921 

1491 

1451 

1426 

1128-1096 

1095 

1055 

1015 

1012 

976 



Creation of Man. 

The Deluge. 

Abraham. 

Joseph in Egypt. 

The Exodus. 

Death of Moses. 

Death of Joshua. 

Samuel, the last of the Judges. 

Saul, anointed king of Israel. 

Death of Saul, and accession of David. 

Solomon succeeds David. 

Commencement of the Temple. 

Death of Solomon. Revolt of the Ten Tribes. 



Judah and Israel. 



KINGDOM OF JtTDAH. 



.C. 976-959 


Rehoboam. 


959-956 


Abijah. 


956-915 


Asa, 


915-891 


Jehoshaphat. 


891-884 


Jehoram. 


884-883 


Ahaziah. 


883-877 


Athaliah. 


877-837 


Joash. 


837-808 


Amaziah. 


808-756 


Uzziah. 'y 

Jotham. (, Issd-.' 

Ahaz. 


756-741 
741-726 


726-697 


Hezekiah. 


697-642 


Manasseh. 


642-640 


Amon. 1 . i 


640-609 


Jcsiah. - JlM'^i'^ '■ 
Jeoahaz. 


609 


609-598 


Jehoiakim. 


598 


Jehoiachin. 


598-587 


Zedekiah. 


687 


Jerusalem taken by Nebu- 




chadnezzar. End of the 




kingdom of Judah, which 




remains subject to Assyria 




until B.C. 538. 



KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 



B.O. 976-955 
955-954 
954-931 
931-930 

930 
930-919 
919-897 
897-895 
805-883 
883-855 
855-S39 
839-823 
823-782 
782-771 

771 

770 
770-700 

760 
759-757 
757-738 
738-729 
729-720 

720 



Jeroboam. 

Nadab. 

Baasha. 

Elah. 

Zimri. 

Omri. Samaria built. 

Ahab. 

Ahaziah. 

Joram. 

Jehu. 

.lehoahaz. 

Jehoash. 

Jeroboam. 

Interreign, 

Zachariah. 

Shallum. 

Meuahem. 

Interreign. 

Pekaiah. 

Pekah. 

Interreign. 

Hoshea. 

Israel conquered by the Assy- 
rian Salmanassar. Samaria 
subject to the Assyrians un 
til D.c. 538. 



* These two dates have been adopted, because they are the most generally received by 
English writers. It must, however, be observed that, according to the Septuagint. the 
Creation is referred to B. c. 5508, and the Deluge to B.C. 3246. The date of the Creation is. 
in fact, carried back by some as far as B. c. 6984, while others bring it down to b. C. 3616. 
See Biicijcitrp. Brit, article Chronology, p. 669. 

37 (433) 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



Cyms, after conquering Babylon, allows the Jews to return tO 
their country. 

All Palestine subject to Persia. 

Building of the second Temple. 

Alexander the Great at Jerusalem, to whom Palestine is subject 
until his death in B.C. 323. 

Palestine subject to Syria, and from 301 to 203 to the kings of 
Egypt. 

Origin of the Septuagint. 

Jerusalem taken, and its temple polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes. 

Judas Maccabaeus frees Judaea from the Syrians. 

Death of Judas Maccabaeus. 

Jonathan. 

Simon. 

John Hyrcanus. 

Aristobulus, son of Hyrcanus, assumes the title of king. 

Alexander Jannaeus. 

Queen Alexandra. 

Hyrcanus II. 

Aristobulus II. Dispute between Aristobulus and Hyrcanus de- 
cided by Pompey in favour of the latter. 

Hyrcanus II. restored. 

Herod the Great.. 

Birth of Jesus Christ. 

Pontius Pilate, governor of Judaea. 

Jesus Christ crucified. 

Siege, capture, and destruction of Jerusalem. 



CHINA. 

Han. the first historical dynasty. 

Confucius (Kong-fu-tse), Chinese philosopher and reformer. 
Destruction of Chinese literature in the reign of Shi-hoang-ti. 
Death of Shi-hoang-ti, and restoration of literature. 



INDIA. 



Beginning of the historical period. Origin of the most ancient parts 
of the Vedas. 

Origin of Buddhism. 

Alexander the Great in India. 

King Acoca promotes Buddhism, which is introduced also into Cey- 
lon, Tibet, China, and other parts. 

King Vikramaditya, patron of literature. Kalidasa, the dramatic 
poet. 



IRANIAN NATIONS. 



a BACTRIA. 



The Assyrian Ninus invades Baetria. 
Zoroaster, the founder of the religion of light. 
Cyrus subdues Baetria. 
Alexander the Great conquers Baetria. 
Baetria, an independent kingdom under Antiochus Theus 
King Eucratidas extends the Bactrian empire. 
Overthrow of the Bactrian kingdom by the Scythians. 
Baetria becomes a province of the Persian empire of the 
sanidae. 



Sas- 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



435 



b. MEDIA. 

Media becomes subject to Assyria. 

The Medes tlirow oflf the yoke of Assyria. 

Deioces, king of Media, built Ecbatana, his capital. 

Phraortes perishes in a war against Assyria. 

Cyaxares greatly extends his empire. 

Cyaxares destroys Nineveh. 

Astyages. The Median empire overthrown by the Persians. 



C3rrus, founder of the Persian monarchy. 

Croesus, king of Lydia, conquered by Cyrus. 

Cyrus conquers Babylon. 

Cyrus is killed in a war against the Massagetad 

Cambyses succeeds Cyrus. 

Cambyses conquers Egypt. 

Smerdis revolts, and maintains himself on the throne of Persia for 

seven months. 
Darius, son of Hystaspes, is chosen king of Persia. 
An insurrection of Babylon is quelled. Zopyrus. 
Unsuccessful expedition against the Scythians in Europe. 
Revolt of the lonians. 

The Persians are again masters of all Asia Minor. 
Mardonius' invasion of Europe fails. 
The Persians defeated at Marathon. 
Insurrection of Egypt. 
Xerxes. 

The Egyptian insurrection quelled. 

Xerxes invades Europe, but is defeated at Artemisium and SalamiB. 
His general Mardonius defeated at Plataeae, and on the same day 

the Persians defeated at Mycale. 
Artabanus reigns only seven months. 
Artaxerxes I. (Longimanus). 
Revolt of Eg3'pt under Inarus. 
Revolt of Egypt under Amyrtaeus. 
Xerxes II. reigns only two months. 
Sogdianus reigns seven months. 
Darius II. (Nothus). 

A treaty between Sparta and Persia concluded. 
Cyrus the younger in Asia Minor supports Sparta. 
Artaxerxes II. (Mnemon. 

Insurrection and defeat of the king's brother Cyrus. 
Agcsilaus carries on the war against Persia in Asia. 
Ochus. Bagoas, the all-powerful eunuch. 
Phoenicia revolts. 

Revolt of Egypt under Nectanebus. 
Arses. 

Darius III. (Codomannus). 

The Persians defeated by Alexander on the Granicus. 
Battle of Issus. 
Battle of Gaugamela, and end of the Persian empire. 



ASSYRIA. 

Ninus, the founder of the Assyrian empire and of Nineveh, suc- 
ceeded by Semiramis and Ninyas. 
Phul makes conquests in western Asia. 
Tiglath-Pileser continues the conauests. 



436 



CHRONOLOaiCAL TABLE. 



Salmanassar takes Samaria. 

Sennacherib penetrates into Egypt, but is unsuccessful. 
Assarhaddon. In his reign the Assyrian empire begins to decline. 
Sardanapalus. Under him Nineveh is taken and destroyed by 

Cyaxares, and Assyria becomes a province of the Median 

empire. 

BABYLONIA. 

The earliest date to which native traditions ascend. 

Nahonassar shakes off the yoke of Assyria, to which Babylonia 

had been subject for more than 500 years. 
Nabopolassar assists Cyaxares against Assyria. 
Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar, a great conqueror, leads the 

Jews captive to Babylon. After him the empire decays. 
Under its last king Nabonedus, Babylon is conquered by Cyrus. 
Revolt of Babylon. Zopyrus. 



PHOENICIA. 

Phoenicia subdued by the Assyrian Salmanassar. 

Gades, a colony of Tyre, founded in Spain. 

Carthage, a colony of Tyre, founded in Africa. 

Tyre besieged by Nebuchadnezzar. 

Phoenicia submits to Persia. 

Tyre taken and destroyed by Alexander the Great. 

LTDIA. 

AgTon, first king of the Ileracleid dynasty. 

Candaules, the last king of that dj'nasty, murdered 

Gyges, first king of the Mermnad dynasty, conquers Mysia, Colo- 
phon, and Magnesia. 

Ardys. The Cimmerians and Treres overrun Asia Minor. 

Sadyattes. 

Alyattes expels the Cimmerians and Treres, and extends his king- 
dom to the river llalys. 

Croesus, a mild and beneficent ruler. 

Croesus conquered and taken prisoner by Cyrus. 



EGYPT. 

Menes, the mythical founder of the kingdom. 

Period of the eighteenth dynasty, the first that can be regarded as 

historical. Eameses the Great. Egypt at the height of its 

power. 
Period of the nineteenth dynasty. Egypt still prosperous, but 

afterwards declines. 
Sennacherib invades Egypt. 
Period of the dodecarchy. 
Psammetichus overthrows the dodecarchy, and becomes sole king 

of Egypt. 
Necho, Circumnavigation of Africa. 
Necho conquers the Jews, and takes Jerusalem. 
Nccho defeated by Nebuchadnezzar at Circesium. 
Psammis. 
Apries conquers Phoenicia and Cyprus, but is defeated by the 

Cyreneans. 
Amasis. Egypt is very prosperous. 
Psammenitus. Egypt is conquered by Cambyses. 
First insurrection against Persia. 
Xerxes quells the insurrection. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



437 



B.C. 460-455 
450 

350-347 
332 

823-285 
306 

285-247 



283 
Si47-222 

222-205 
205-181 

193 

181-146 

146-iir 

117-81 

96 
81-80 
80-51 

51-30 

30 



Second revolt of Egypt under Inarus. 

Revolt under Amyrtaeus. 

The last revolt, under Nectanebus, 

Egypt is conquered by Alexander the Great. 

Ptolemy Soter, the son of Lagus. 

Ptolemy assumes the title of king. Under him Egypt a great 

military and maritime state. The Museum. 
Ptolemy Philadelphus bestows all his care on the internal ad- 
ministration. Egypt very powerful. Manetho. The Sep- 

tuagint. 
Death of Ptolemy Sotcr. 
Ptolemy Eurgetes makes great conquests in Asia, but they are 

not lasting. 
Ptolemy Philopator. The Egyptian empire begins to decline. 
Ptolemy Epiphanes succeeds at the age of five, and many of his 

possessions are snatched from him by Syria and Macedonia. 
Ptolemy marries a Syrian princess, whereby the disputes are 

settled. 
Ptolemy PMlometor ascends the throne as an infant. He is 

guided by his mother Cleopatra until her death, B.C. 173. 

Egypt is almost wholly dependent on Rome. 
Ptolemy Eurgetes or Physcon, is said to have been a pupil of 

Aristarchus ; was a most cruel tyrant. 
Ptolemy Soter or Lathyrus. Great confusion in Egypt. (Ptolemy 

Alexander, Cleopatra). 
Cyrene becomes a Roman province. 
Ptolemy Alexander. 
Ptolemy Dionysus or Auletes, leaves behind four children, one of 

whom is the celebrated Cleopatra. 
Cleopatra at first rules with her brother Ptolemy, and, after 

several vicissitudes, alone. 
Egypt becomes a Roman province. 



1400-1200 

1194-1184 

1130 

1104 

1068 

900-800 

884 

776 

752 

746 

743-724 

735 

734 

723 

708 

690 

685-668 

683 

658 

637 

629 
624 
623-612 
612 
604 



GREECE. 

The heroic age of Greece. 

The war against Troy. 

Establishment of the iEolian colonies in Asia. 

Conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians. 

Medon, first archon for life at Athens. 

The age of Homer and Hesiod. 

Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver. 

Commencement of the era of the Olympiads. 

Decennial archons at Athens. 

Rhegium in Italy founded. 

The first Messenian war. 

Naxos in Sicily founded by Theocles. 

Syracuse, a Corinthian colony, founded by Archias. 

Sybaris in Italy founded. 

Tarentum founded by Laconians under Phalanthus. 

Gela in Sicily founded by Cretans and Rhodians. 

The second Messenian war. 

First annual archons at Athens. 

Byzantium rounded by Megarians. 

Cyrcno receiMs additional colonists from Greece, and changes its 

constitution. 
Selinus in Sicily founded. 
Draco's legislation at Athens. 
War between Lydia and Miletus. 
Cylon's conspiracy at Athens. 
Solon recovers Salamis for Athens. 



37* 



438 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



B.C. 600 

' 597 

594-585 

694 

582 

672-562 

570 

660 

559 

550 

542 

536 

527 

522 
514 

510 

510 
508 

504 

501 
600 
499 
494 
493 
492 
490 

483 
480 

480 

479 

478 
477 
477-404 
476 
471 

468 
466 
465 
464 

464-455 
463 
461 

460-455 

457 

456 
455 
454 
453 
450 
449 



M.nssilia founded by Phocaeans. 

Megaclos and his partizans banished from Athens. 

The Crissaean or first Sacred War. 

Solon, as archon^ reforms the constitution of Athens. 

Agrigentum founded. 

iSolon travels in various countries. 

Pythagoras, the philosopher. 

Pisistratus becomes tyrant of Athens. 

Solon dies, and Pisistratus is expelled. 

Phercydes of Syros, first Greek prose writer. 

Pisistratus finally established as tyrant. 

Xenophaues emigrates from Colophon to Elea, and fonnds the 

Eleatic school of philosophy. 
Pisistratus dies. 

Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, murdered at Sardes. 
Conspiracy of Ilarmodius and Aristogeiton against the Pisis- 

tratids. 
Expulsion of the Pisistratids. Constitutional reforms by Cleis- 
thenes. 

Sybaris destroyed by the Crotoniats. 

Cleisthones returns to Athens. War between Athens and Sparta 
and her allies. 

The Crotoniats rise against the aristocracy and the Pytha- 
goraeans. 

Aristagoras of Miletus fails in his undertaking against Naxos. 

Bevolt of the lonians in Asia Minor. 

Sardes burnt. 

Miletus taken by the Persians. 

Complete sulyugation of the Asiatic Greeks. 

The Persian Mardonius invades Europe. 

Second invasion of Europe by the Persians, and battle of 
Marathon. 

Aristides exiled by ostracism. 

Xerxes invades Europe. Battles of Thermopylae, Artemisium, 
and Salamis. 

The Greeks in Sicily gain a great victory over the Cartha- 
ginians. 

Battles of Plataeae and Mycale. 

Athens rebuilt, and its harbours fortified. 

The Greek fleet conquers Cyprus and Byzantium. 

Period of the supremacy of Athens. 

Cimon conquers Eion and Scyros. 

Conviction and death of Pausanias, and flight of Themistoclcs to 
Epirus, and afterwards to Persia. 

Death of Aristides. 

Naxos conquered by the Athenians. 

Cimon defeats the Persians on the Eurymedon. 

Kevolt of Thasos. Pericles enters on public life. 

The third Messenian war, in consequence of an earthquake. 

Cimon subdues Thasos. 

Cimon is exiled. 

Revolt of Inarus in Egypt, who is supported by the Athenians, 
but fails. 

War between Athens and the Corinthians with their allies. The 
Athenians defeated at Tanagra. 

Myronides defeats the Thebans at (Enophyta. 

The Athenians gain possession of Naupactus. 

Murder of Ephialtes, the friend of Pericles. 

Cimon recalled from exile. 

A truce of five years concluded between Athens and Sparta. 

Death of Cimon at Citium, in Cyprus. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



439 



War between the Delpbians ami Phocians, the former being sup- 
ported by Sparta, the latter by Athens. 

Battle of Coroneia, in which ToliuiJes the Athenian is defeated. 

Revolt of Euboea and Megara. A truce for thirty years con- 
cluded between Athens and Sparta. 

Administration of Pericles. 

The colony of Thurii founded in Italy by Athenians and other 
Greeks. 

Revolt of Samos. Sophocles one of the generals. Samos is re- 
duced and Byzantium conquered. 

War between Corinth and Corcyra about Epidanmus. 

The Corinthians defeated in a naval action. 

Alliance between Athens and Corcyra. 

Battle of Sybota. Beginning of the Peloponnesian war. 

The Thebans attack Plataeae. The Spartans invade Attica, and 
the Athenians retaliate. 

Second invasion of Attica, which is visited by the plague. Sur- 
render of the revolted Potidaea. 

Death of Pericles. Siege of Plataeae. 

Third invasion of Attica. Revolt of Lesbos. 

Fourth invasion of Attica. Lesbos reduced by Paches. CleOQ 
the demagogue. 

The Athenians are successful in Boeotia, Locris, iEtolia, Sicily, 
and Italy. 

Fifth invasion of Attica. Pylos taken and fortified by the 
Athenians. Cleon takes Sphactcria and the Spartans in tho 
island. 

Nicias takes Cythera. General peace in Sicily. Brasidas 
at Megara and in Thrace. The Athenians defeated at 
Delion. 

Truce for one year. 

Death of Brasidas, and Cleon at Amphipolis. 

Peace of Nicias concluded for fifty years. Offensive and defen- 
sive alliance between Athens and Sparta. Ar^give confe- 
deracy. 

Alliance between Argos and Athens. Alcibiades. 

War between Sparta and Argos. Battle of Mantineia, in which 
the Spartans are victorious. Alliance between Sparta and 
Argos. 

The alliance broken, and war renewed. 

Alcibiades at Argos. Conquest of Melos. Egesta in Sicily 
solicits the aid of the Athenians. 

The great Sicilian expedition. Mutilation of the Ilerraae. 
Alcibiades recalled. 

Siege of Syracuse, which is relieved by Gylippus. 

Tho Spartans establish themselves at Decelea in Attica. Fearful 
defeat of the Athenians in Sicily. 

Alcibiades, with the Spartan fleet, on the coast of Asia. 

Oligarchy established at Athens, but overthrown in tho same 
year. Battles of Cj'nossema and Abydos. 

Alcibiades defeats the Lacedaemonians in Asia. 

Tiie Athenians conquer Byzantium. 

Alcibiades returns to Athens. Lysander commands the Spartan 
fleet. Cyrus the younger supports Sparta. 

The Athenians defeated at Notion. Alcibiades withdraws to 
Chersonesus, and is succeeded by Conon. 

Battle of Arginusae. Misfortune of the Athenian gener.als. 

Battle of .ffigospotomi, in wliich the Athenians are defeated by 
Lj'sandcT. Siege and surrender of Athens. 

Lysander enters Athens. The Thirty Tyrants. 

Thrasybulus delivers Athens from tho tyr.-mny of tho Thirty. 
Restoration of tho constitution. 



440 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



B. c. 400 

399 
399 

399 & 398 
398 

398 & 397 
396 
395 

895-387 

394 

393 

392 
391 
890 
389 
388 
387 
3S5 
883-379 
382 

379 

378-362 

377 
376 
375 
374 
373 
871 
370 
869 

368 

367 
366 
365 
364 

862 

361 

3fi0 

359 

857-355 

355-346 

353 

352 

351 
347 
346 

344-841 



Cyrus the younger, assisted by Greeks^ revolts against Artar- 

erxes. Battle of Cunasa. 
Dercyllidas, the Spartan, carries on war in Asia against Persia. 
Socrates condemned to death. 
War between Sparta and Elis. 
Agesilaus becomes king of Sparta. 
Canspiracy of Cinadon at Sparta. 

Agesilaus takes the command in Asia against the Persians. 
Agesilaus defeats the Persians. A coalition formed in Greece 

against Sparta. Lysander killed at Haliartos. 
The Corinthian or Boeotian war. 
Agesilaus recalled from Asia. Defeats the Boeotian confederates 

at Coroneia. 
Massacre at Corinth. Rebuilding of the walls of Athens by 

Conon. 
Agesilaus repulsed by Iphicrates. 
Antalcidas negotiates with Persia for a peace. 
Death of Thrasybulus. 
Iphicrates defeats the Spartans at Abydos. 
The Spartans take JEginn and harass Attica. 
The peace of Antalcidas concluded. 
Mantineia destroyed by the Spartans. 
The Olynthian war. 
Thebes seized by the Spartan Phoebida^. Pelopidas escapes 

to Athens. 
Olyntbos is compelled to surrender to the Spartans. Pelopidas 

liberates Thebes. 
The Theban war. The Spartans invade Boeotia. 
The invasion of Boeotia repeated. 
The Spartans compelled to retreat from Boeotia. 
The Spartans defeated at Orchomenos. 

Peace between Athens and Sparta, but not of long duration. 
The Spartans are obliged to raise the siege of Corcyra. 
Battle of Leuctra, in which the Spartans are totally defeated. 
Jason of Pherae assassinated. 
First invasion of Peloponnesus by Epaminondas. Bestoration 

of Messenia. 
Second invasion of Peloponnesus. Pelopidas taken prisoner by 

Alexander of Pherae. 
The Arcadians defeated by the Spartans. 
Third invasion of Peloponnesus. 
War between Arcadia and Elis. 
Pelopidas is killed in Thessaly, but Alexander of Pherae forms 

an alliance with Thebes. 
Fourth invasion of Peloponnesus. Battle of Mantineia. Death 

of Epaminondas. 
A general peace concluded. Death of Agesilaus. 
Amphipolis falls into the hands of the Olynthians. 
Accession of Philip of Macedonia. 
Social war between Athens and her allies, at the close of which 

Athens loses most of her allies. 
Sacred war against the Phocians. 

Defeat of the Phocians at Neon. War of Sparta against Megalo- 
polis. Olynthos allies itself with Athens. 
The Phocians compel Philip to return to Macedonia. First 

Philippic of Demosthenes. 
The Phocians carry on the war in Boeotia. 
Olynthos and other Thraeian towns are taken by Philip. 
The Boeotians defeated by the Phocians at Coroneia. But the 

Phocians submit, and their towns are destroyed. 
Philip continues his conquests. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



441 



Athens resolves upon war against FMlip. 

Phocion obliges him to raise the siege of Perinthos and Byzan- 
tium. 

War against Amphissa. Battle of Chaeroneia. 

Congress of Greek states at Corinth, and Philip appointed com- 
mander-in-chief against Persia. 

Murder of Philip, and accession of Alexander. 

Rise of the Greeks against Macedonia. Destruction of Thebes. 

Alexander sets out for Asia. 

Agis, king of Sparta, forms a confederacy against Macedonia. 
Memnon of Rhodes dies. 

Agis defeated by Antipater near Megalopolis. 

Alexander orders the exiles to be recalled in the various parts of 
Greece. Harpalus in Greece. Demosthenes exiled. 

Alexander dies at Babylon. Fresh revolt of Athens. 

Battle of Crannon. Surrender of Athens. Death of Demos- 
thenes. 

Polysperchon proclaims the independence of Greece. 

Administration of Athens by Demetrius Phalereus. 

Athens submits to Cassander. Death of Phocion. 

Thebes rebuilt by command of Cassander. 

Greece declared free by Antigonus and Ptolemy. 

Ptolemy makes himself master of several parts of Greece. 

General peace; the independence of Greece guaranteed. 

Demetrius Poliorcetes becomes master of Athens. 

Demetrius returns to Greece against Cassander, who bad made 
attempts upon Athens. 

Demetrius, after the battle of Ipsus, is refused admission into 
Athens. 

Athens, besieged by Demetrius, surrenders to him. 

Athens recovers her freedom during the brief reign of Pyrrhus. 
Democharcs returns from exile, and undertakes the adminis- 
tration of Athens. 

Beginnings of the Achaean league. Celts in Greece. 

The Celts routed at Delphi. 

Extension of the Achaean league. 

Athens besieged, and obliged to surrender to Antigonus Gonatas. 

Flourishing period of the Achaean league. Aratus strategus. 

Agis rV., king of Sparta, attempts reforms. 

The Macedonian garrison driven from Acrocorinthus. 

Agis IV. murdered. 

Cleomenes III. and his reforms at Sparta. 

Athens freed from the Macedonian garrison. 

Aratus strategus for the eleventh time. Cleomenes at war with 
the Achaean league. 

The Achaeans seek the aid of Macedonia against Sparta. 

Antigonus Doson in Peloponnesus. 

Cleomenes takes Megalopolis, and invades Argolis. 

Battle of Sellasia. The Spartans utterly defeated, and Sparta 
taken. Cleomenes flees to Egj-pt. 

Cleomenes kills himself. Lycurgus sole king of Sparta. 

Social war between the Achaean and iEtolian leagues. 

Philip V. invades iEtolia, and the iEtolians invade Achaia. 

Philip defeats Lycurgus. 

Philip's attention being drawn to Italy, he concludes peace with 
the ^tolians. 

Aratus poisoned by order of Philip. 

The vEtolians conclude a treaty with Rome. Death of Lycurgus. 
Machanidas, tyrant of Sjiarta. 

The ^tolians defeated by Philip. Philopoemen. 

Pbilopoemen defeats Machanidas at Mautineia. 



442 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



B.C. 205 

200 

197 
196 

195 

194 
192 



191 

190 
189 

188 

183 

181 
168 

167 

155 
151 
147 

146 

86 



B.C. 750 
413-399 
399-394 

394-393 
393-369 

369-367 
367-364 
364-359 
359-336 

358 

356 

352 

349 
347 
346 
344-341 
340 
339 
838 



336 
836-323 

335 



The ^tolians are obliged to make peace with Philip. 
Attica invaded by Philip, which is the cause of the second Mace- 
donian war with Rome. 
Battle of Cynoscephalae. 

Flamininus proclaims the independence of Greece. 
Nabis, tyrant of Sparta, is compelled to submit to a peace dictated 

by Flamininus. 
War between Nabis and the Achaeans. 

Nabis defeated by Philopoemen, an-d killed by the .ffitolians. 
The Achaean league embraces all Peloponnesus. The jEto- 
lians invite Antiochus, king of Syria. 
The .Etolians and Antiochus defeated at Thermopylae. 
A truce of six months between the jEtolians and Romans. 
War recommenced, and the .ffitolian confederacy broken up. 
War between Sparta and the Achaeans. Sparta conquered, and 

its ancient constitution abolished by Philopoemen. 
Messenia revolts from the Achaean league. Philopoemen put to 

death. 
Sparta recovered by the Achaean league. 
Battle of Pydna. End of the kingdom of Macedonia. 
One thousand Achaean hostages, including Polybius, sent to 

Italy. 
Athenian ambassadors at Rome. 

Return of the surviving Achaean hostages from Italy. 
The Achaeans declare war against Kome. The strategus 

Critolaus perishes after two defeats. 
Battle of Leucopetra. Corinth destroyed by Mummius. The 

Achaean confederacy broken up. Greece subject to Rome. 
Athens besieged, taken, and plundered by Sulla. 

MACEDONIA. 
Carcanus, the alleged founder of the Macedonian dynasty. 
Archelaus, the first great king. 
Orestes, a minor, under the guardianship of Aeropus, who usurps 

the throne, and is succeeded by his son. 
Pausanius, assassinated by Amyntas. 
Amyntas II. leaves behind him three sons, Alexander, Perdiccas, 

and Philip. 
Alexander is murdered by a usurper, Ptolemy Alorites. 
Ptolemy Alorites, the usurper, is assassinated by Perdiccas. 
Perdiccas is killed in a war against the Illyrians. 
Philip III., son of Amyntas II., and father of Alexander the 

Great. 
Philip is successful against the Illyrians, and interferes with the 

Greek towns in Thrace. 
Birth of Alexander. Philip interferes in the affairs of Thessaly. 
Philip takes part in the Sacred War against the Phocians; but 

being repulsed at Thermopylae, returns to Macedonia. 
Philip attacks Olynthos. 

Olynthos and other Thracian towns are conquered. 
Philip concludes peace with Athens. 
Philip makes conquests in Illyricum and Thrace. 
Philip besieges Perinthos and Byzantium. 
Is obliged by Phocion to raise the siege. 
War against Amphissa, in which Philip is made commander-m- 

chief by the Amphictions. Battle of Chaeroneia. Peace 

with Athens and Thebes. 
Philip assassinated at ^geae, 
Alexander the Great. 
Expeditions against the Triballi, Getae, and Illyrians. Revolt of 

Greek states. Destruction of Thebes. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



443 



Alexander sets out for Asia. Battle on the Granicus. 

Battle of Issus. 

Alexander takes Tyre. Egypt submits to him, and he plans the 

building of Alexandria. 
Battle of Gaugamela. 

Alexander takes Ecbatana. Darius murdered. 
Alexander marches across the Paropamisus, and the rivers Oxus 

and Jaxartes. He marries Roxana. 
Alexander in India. Defeat of Porus. 
Alexander returns through the Gedrosian desert. Nearchus, 

with the fleet; sails from the Indus to the Persian gulf. 
Alexander in Persia assumes the customs of eastern despots. 
Mutiny among Alexander's troops. Philotas put to death. Alex- 
ander at Babylon plans new conquests. 
Alexander dies at Babylon. His empire divided. 
Lamian. war, in which the Greeks are compelled to submit to 

Antipater. 
Perdiccas, regent of the empire, murdered, and the empire distri- 
buted anew. 
Death of Antipater : is succeeded by Polysperchon. 
Cassander, Antipater's son, causes Olympias to be put to death, 

she having murdered Arrhidaeus and Eurydice in B.C. 317. 
Craterus, taken prisoner by Antigonus, dies iu a dungeon. 
War of Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Cassander, against 

Antigonus. 
Cassander, at first regent, then king of Macedonia. 
Seleucus establishes himself in the East. Era of the Seleucidae. 
Murder of Roxana and her son Alexander by Cassander. General 

peace among the successors of Alexander. 
Murder of Barsine and her son Heracles. 
Cassander- comes to terms with Ptolemy. 

Ptolemy defeated in Cyprus. Antigonus and his son Demetrius 
assume the title of king, and their example is followed by 
the others. 
Battle of Ipsus. Macedonia, Thrace, Syria, and Egypt recognised 

as independent kingdoms. 
Philip IV. Civil war iu Macedonia. 
Demetrius Poliorcetes usurps the throne. 
Demetrius dethroned by Pyrrhus, who reigns over Macedonia 

for seven mouths. 
Lysimachus expels Pyrrhus, and becomes king of Macedonia. 
Demetrius Poliorcetes dies as a prisoner of Seleucus. 
Lysimachus slain in battle against Seleucus. 
Ptolemy Ceraunus. 
Invasion of Macedonia by the Celts. 
Antig-onus Gonatas. 
Pjrrrhus again king of Macedonia. 
AJutigonas Gonatas again king of Macedonia, 
War agaiust Athens, which in the end surrenders, and receives a 

Macedonian garrison. 
Demetrius II. 

Antigonus Doson reigns as guardian of Philip, the son of De- 
metrius. 
Antigonus Doson, called to the assistance of the Achaeans against 

Sparta, enters Peloponnesus. 
Battle of Sellasia. Antigonus takes Sparta. 
Death of Antigonus Doson. 
PMUp V. 
Social war in Greece, in which Philip supports the Achaeans 

agaiust the iEtolians. 
Philip concludes a treaty with Hannibal against Rome. 



444 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



B.C. 215-205 

205 
200-197 

197 
196 

179-168 
171-168 

168 

149 

148 



First war with Rome carelessly conducted 

Peace between Philip and the jEtolians. 

Second War with Rome. 

Philip defeated by Flamininus in the battle of Cynoscephalae. 

Peace between Home and Macedonia ratified, and Greece declared 

free. 
Perseus, last king of Macedonia. 
Third War with Eome. 
Battle of Pydna, in which Perseus is defeated by L. ^miliu 

Paul us. 
Andriscus, a pretender under the name of Philip, raises himself 

to the throne of Macedonia. 
Andriscus defeated by Caecilius Metellus. Macedonia a Roman 

province. 



B.C. 312-280 

280 
280-261 

261-246 

250 

246-226 



226-223 

223-187 

217 

214 

212-205 

196 

195 
192 
191 
190 



187-175 

175-164 

164-162 

162-150 

150-146 

146-137 

137-128 

125 

125-95 

95-83 

83-69 

69-65 

65 



SYRIA. 

Seleucus Nicator, founder of the Syrian empire, assassinated at 

Lysimachia. 
State of Galatia formed. 
Antiochus Soter, is killed in a battle against the Celts in Asia 

Minor. 
Antiochue Theos. War against Egypt. Is murdered by hia 

wife. 
Foundation of the Parthian empire by Arsaces. Bactria also 

ni.akes itself independent. 
Seleucus Callinicus. A part of his kingdom conquered by 

Ptolemy Euergetes of Egypt. War against his brother 

Antiochus Hierax, who is defeated. Seleucus dies in con- 
sequence of a fall. 
Seleucus Ceraunus, an imbecile ruler, murdered by his own 

oflicors. 
Antiochus III., the Great. 
Antiochus is defeated at Gaza, and Phoenicia and Palestine are 

ceded to Egypt. 
The usurper Achaeus defeated. 
War with Parthia and Bactria, the independence of which is 

finally recognised. 
Antiochus crosses over into Europe, and conquers the Thracian 

Chersonesus. 
Hannibal goes to Antiochus. 

Antiochus invades Greece by the desire of the ^tolians. 
Antiochus, defeated in the battle of Thermopylae, quits Europe. 
Antiochus defeated by the Scipios in the battle of Magnesia. 

All Asia west of Mount Taurus is lost, and the power of 

Syria broken. 
Seleucus Philopator. The decay of the empire continues. 
Antiochus Epiphanes, is forced by the Romans to abandon 

Egypt. 
Antiochus Eupator. 
Demetrius Soter. 
Alexander Bala. 

Demetrius Nicator (Antiochus Trypho). 
Antiochus Sidetes (Demetrius Nicator, again). 
Seleucus V. 

Antiochus Grypus (Antiochus Cyzicenus). 
Seleucus VI. (Antiochus Eusebes, Philip, Demetrius Eucaerus, 

Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus Dionysius). 
Tigranes, king of Armenia. 
Antiochus Asiaticus. 
Syria becomes a Roman province. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLK. 



445 



B.O. 814 

734 

650 

509 

480 

410 
848 

306 

279 
405-368 

868-345 

345-337 

317-289 

310 



CARTHAGE AND SICILY. 

Foundation of Carthage. 

Syracuse founded by the Corinthian Archias. 

Malchus conquers part of Sicily, but is unsuccessful against 

Sardinia. 
Treaty of commerce between Carthage and Rome. Sardinia 

a Carthaginian province. 
The Carthaginians defeated at Himera by the Greeks, 
Renewed attempts of the Carthaginians upon Sicily. 
Renewal of the commercial treaty between Kome and Car- 
thage. 
Second renewal of the ancient commercial treaty with Rome. 
Defensive alliance between Rome and Carthage. 
Dionysius the elder, tyrant of Syracuse. The war with Car- 
thage is renewed, and Carthage is in the end successfuL 
Dionysius the younger is hard pressed by the Carthaginians 

towards the end of his rule. 
Timoleon checks the Carthaginians. After him Syracuse an 

oligarchy, until the time of Agathocles. 
Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse. 

The Carthaginians besiege Syracuse, while Agathocles attacks 
Carthage. 
308 Agathocles invites Ophelias of Cyrene to join him against Car- 
thage. 
281 The Mamertines take possession of Messene. 
278 Pyrrhus arrives in Sicily to assist the Greeks against the 

Carthaginians and Mamertines. 
275 Hiero elected general by the Syracusans. 
270 Hiero obtains the title of king. 
264 The Mamertines ally themselves with the Romans. 
264-241 First war of Carthage against Rome. 
264 Hiero concludes peace with Rome. 

241 Sicily, evaculated by the Carthaginians, becomes the first 
Roman province. 
241-238 War of Carthage against her revolted mercenaries. 
238 Carthage loses Sardinia and Corsica. 
229 Hamilcar dies in Spain. 
221 Hasdrubal is assassinated in Spain, and succeeded by the great 

Hannibal. 
219 Hannibal besieges and destroys Saguntum. 
218-202 Second war of Carthage against Rome. 

216 Death of Hiero, who is succeeded by Hieronymus. 

215 Murder of Hieronymus, after which Hippocrates and Epicydes 

join the Carthaginians. 
212 Capture of Syracuse by M. Marcellus. The eastern portion 

of Sicily also becomes part of the Roman province. 
183 Death of Hannibal. 
149-146 Third and last war between Carthage and Rome. 

146 Carthage taken and destroyed. Its territory a Roman province. 
134-132 First servile war in Sicily. 
102-99 Second servile war in Sicily. 



B.C. 753 
753-716 
715-672 
672-640 

38 



ROME. 

Foundation of Rome. 
Romulus. Political institutions. 
Numa Pompilius. Religious institutions. 

TuUus Hostilius. War against Alba. The Horatii and Curiatii, 
Alba Longa destroyed. Beginnings of the plebs. 



UQ 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



B.C. 64-616 Ancus Marcius. Formation of the plebeian order by the con • 
quest of the Latins. Ostia built. 
616-578 Tarquinius Priscus, attempts reforms, but is thwarted. 
578-534 Servius Tullius. Organisation of the plebs, and reforms of the 

constitution. 
534-510 Tarquinius Superbus. 

609 Establishment of the republic. First consuls. Conspiracy at 

Home. War with Porsenna. 
505 War against the Sabines. 
601 War with the Latins. 
498 T. Larcius, first dictator. 

496 Battle of Lake Eegillus, in which the Latins are defeated. 
495 Death of Tarquinius Superbus. Insurrection of the plebs. 
494 Secession of the plebs to the Mons Saco: 
493 Appointment of the tribunes of the plebs. The ^diles. League 

of Sp. Cassius witl) the Latins. 
491 Coriolanus stirs up the Volscians against Rome. 
486 League of Sp. Cassius with the llernicans. First attempt at an 

agrarian law. 
485 Sp. Cassius put to death, and his agrarian law is disregarded. 
477 Defeat of the Fabii on the Cremera. 
473 The tribune Genucius murdered. 
471 The tribune Publilius Volero carries several laws to protect the 

plebs. 
462 The tribune C. Terentillus Arsa demands a revision of the 

laws. 
458 The dictator L. Quinctius Cincinnatus defeats the ^quians. 
457 The number of tribunes of the plebs is increased to ten. 
454 The bill of Terentillus Arsa is at length carried. 
451 The first decemvirate. 

450 The second decemvirate. Laws of the Twelve Tables. 
449 Secession of the plebs to the Jlons Sacer. Deijosition of the 

decemvirs. Laws of Valerius and Horatius. 
445 The tribune Canuleius carries a law establishing the connuhium 

between patricians and plebeians. 
443 Institution of the censorship. 
440 Famine at Rome. Sp. Maclius assists the poor. 
439 Sp. Maclius murdered by Scrvilius Ahala. 
438 The first military tribunes instead of consuls. 
425 Fidenae destroj'ed. 

396 Capture of Veii by Camillus after a siege of ten ye.ars. 
391 Camillus goes into exile. The Gauls besiege Clusium. 
390 Battle of tlie Allia. Eome taken and destroyed by the 

Gauls. 
384 M. Manlius Capitolinus condemned to death. 
383 The Pomptine district assigned to the plebeians. 
376 C. Lifinius Stolo and L. Sextius bring forward their rogations. 
367 The Licinian rogations are passed after a struggle of nearly 

ten years. 
366 L. Sextius, the first plebeian consul. First appointment of a 

praetor. 
358 T. Manlius Torquatus defeats a gigantic Gaul on the Allia. 
356 The first plebeian dictator, C. Marcius Eutilus. 
351 The first plebeian censor. 

350 M. Valerius Corvus slays a Gallic chief by the aid of a raven. 
343-341 First war against the Samnites. 
340-388 War against the Latins. Self-sacrifice of P. Decius. 
339 The laws of Q. Publilius Philo. 
338 Final subjugation of Latium. 
337 The first plebeian praetor. 
328 Foundation of the colony of Fregellae. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



447 



Second war against the Samnites. 

Luceria in Apulia conquered hy the Romans. 

Defeat of the Eomans at Caudium. Afterwards they gain 

several victories. 
War declared against Rome by the Etruscans. 
Great success of the Romans against Samnium. 
The Appian road made. 
War with the Etruscans breaks out. 
The dictator L. Papirius Cursor defeats the Samnites. 
The Etruscan towns conclude peace. 
The Samnites defeated in all directions. Subjugation of the 

Hernicans. 
The Samnites, defeated at Bovianum, sue for peace. The ^quians 

rise, but are completely crushed. 
The colleges of augurs and pontiffs thrown open to the plebeians 

by the Ogulnian law. 
Third war against the Samnites. The Etruscans and Umbrians 

also rise again. 
The Romans recover all Lucania. Victory of the Romans at 

Sentium in Umbria. Decius Mus. 
The Samnites totally defeated; their commander Pontius taken. 
Samnium, and soon after Etruria and Umbria, recognise the 

supremacy of Rome. 
War against the Gauls. Subjugation of the Senones and 

Boii. 
The Romans relieve Thurii, which is besieged by the Lucanians. 
Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, lands in Italy. 
The Romans defeated by Pyrrhus near Heracleia. 
The Romans again defeated by Pyrrhus at Asculum. 
Truce between the Romans and Pyrrhus, who goes to Sicily. 
Pyrrhus returns to Italy. 

Pyrrhus, defeated at Beneventum, abandons Italy. 
Embassy of Ptolemy Pliiladelphus to Rome. 
All southern Italy submits to Rome. 
Rhegium also is recovered by the Romans. 
Fourth and last war against the Samnites, lasts only one 

year. 
The Romans ally themselves with the Mamertines of Messene. 

Peace with Iliero. 
The first Punic war. 

Agrigentum besieged and taken by the Romans. 
C. Duilius defeats the Carthaginians oif Mylae. 
Atilius Calatinus carries on the war in Sicily. 
The Carthaginians defeated off Ecnomus by M. Atilius Regulus, 

who sails with bis fleet to Africa. 
Success of Regulus in Africa, but he is afterwards defeated by 

Xanthippus and taken prisoner. Wreck of the Roman fleet 

on the coast of Sicily. 
A new fleet is equipped, and Panormus taken. 
The Roman fleet sails to Africa, but is wrecked on its return. 
The Carthaginians defeated near Panormus. Regulus sent as 

ambassador to Rome. Siege of Lilybaeum. 
Defeat of Appius Claudius by land and sea. 
Hamilcar undertakes the command of the Carthaginians. 
The Romans build a new fleet. 
C. Lutatius Catullus defeats the Carthaginians off the Agates 

insulae. Peace with Carthage. Sicily the first Eoman 

province. 
Sardinia and Corsica are taken from Carthage. 
War against the Illyrian pirates. Agrarian law of C. Flaminius. 

Death of Hamilcar in Spain : he is succeeded by Hasdrubal. 



448 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



B.C. 228 
226 
225 
224 
223 
222 

821 

219 

218-202 
218 

217 
216 

215 

215-205 
214-212 

212 
211 

210 
209 

207 

205 
204 
203 
202 
201 
200-197 
200-181 
198 
197 

196 
192 
191 
190 

188 

183 

181-179 

171-168 

168 

155 

151 

149 

149-146 

148 
148-140 
147-146 

146 

143-133 

141 

140 
139 



Peace with the Ulyrians. 

The Gauls invade Etruria. 

The Gauls defeated in the battle of Telamon. 

Reduction of the Boii. 

C. Flaminius conquers the Insubrians. 

M. Claudius Marcellus, in the battle of Clastidium, brings the 

Gallic war to a close. Cremona and Placentia founded. 
Assassination of Hasdrubal, who is succeeded by Hannibal. 
Second war against the Ulyrians, who are conquered by L. 

^milius Paulus. Capture of Saguntum. 
The second Punic or the Hannibalian war. 
The Romans defeated on the Ticinus and the Trebia. Cn. 

Cornelius Scipio goes to Spain. 
Defeat of the Romans on Lake Xrasimenns. 
The Romans defeated at Cannae. 
Losses of Hannibal at Nola and Beneventum. Syracuse revolts 

from Rome. Treaty of Hannibal with Philip of Macedonia. 
First war against Macedonia. 

Siege and capture of Syracuse by M. Claudius Marcellus. 
The two Scipios slain in battle in Spain. 
The Romans conquer Capua. P. Cornelius Scipio goes to 

Spain. 
Scipio takes Carthago Nova in Spain. 
Tarentum recovered by the Romans. Hasdrubal defeated at 

Baecula. 
Hasdrubal goes to Italy, but is defeated and slain on the Me- 

taurus. 
P. Cornelius Scipio, consul, goes to Sicily. 
Scipio crosses over into Africa. 
Syphax taken prisoner. 

Hannibal, recalled to Africa, is defeated in the battle of Zama. 
Peace with Carthago ratified at Rome. 
Second war against Macedonia. 
War agsinst the Ligurians, Insubrians, and Boians. 
T. Quinctius Flamininus undertakes the war against Macedonia, 
Philip defeated in the battle of Cynoscephalae. Peace between 

Macedonia and Rome. 
Flamininus proclaims the independence of Greece. 
Antiochus, invited by the ^tolians, crosses over into Europe. 
Antiochus and the ^tolians defeated at Thermopylae. 
L. Cornelius Scipio crosses over into Asia, and defeats Antiochus 

in the battle of Magnesia. Peace concluded. 
Peace with Antiochus ratified at Rome. 
Death of Hannibal. 

Wnr in Spain brought to a close by Tib. Sempronius Gracchus. 
Third and last Macedonian war. 
Battle of Pydna, in which Perseus is defeated. One thousand 

Achaeans sent to Italy. 
Greek philosophers expelled from Rome. 
The surviving Achaeans return to Greece. 
Andriscus, a pretender to the throne of Macedonia, i 
The third and last Punic war. 

Andriscus is defeated and slain by Q. Caecilius Metellus. 
War in Spain. Viriathus. 
W^ar against the Achaeans. 
Destruction of Corinth, and subjugation of Greece. Capture 

and destruction of Carthage. 
War against the Celtiberians in Spain. Siege of Numantia. 
Peace with Viriathus. 
Viriathus murdered by hired assassins. 
The Gabinian law, ordaining vote by ballot at the elections. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



449 



Final subjugation of the Lusitanians. C. Hostilius Mancinus 
concludes peace with the Numaiitines. The Cassian law, 
ordaining vote by ballot in the courts of law. 

Servile war in Sicily. 

Numantia taken and destroyed. Attains of Pergamus dies, be- 
queathing his kingdom to the Roman people. TribunesMp 
of Tib. Sempronius Gracchus : is murdered. 

War against Aristouicus, who claimed the kingdom of Per- 
gamus. 

First conquests of the Romans in Gaul. 

Tribuneship of C. Sempronius Gracchus. 

Second tribuneship of 0. Sempronius Gracchus. 

Murder of C. Gracchus, and civil bloodshed at Rome. 

The Cimbri and Teutones begin their migration westward. 

The Jugurthine war. 

Q. Caecilius Metellus undertakes the command against Jugurtha. 
C. Marius. 

First consulship of C. Marius, who succeeds Metellus in Africa. 

Jugurtha taken prisoner by L. Cornelius Sulla. Birth of Cicero. 

Marius consul, and appointed to conduct the war aagainst the 
Cimbri and Teutones. 

The Cimbri return from Spain, and are joined in Gaul by the 
Teutones. Battle of Aquae Sextiae, in which the Teutones 
are defeated. 

Second servile war in Sicily. 

The Cimbri defeated in the Campi Raudii. 

C. Marius consul for the sixth time. The seditious tribune, L. 
Apuleius Saturninus, and his party besieged in the Capitol, 
and afterwards put to death. 

The tribune, M. Livius Drusus, attempts to confer the franchise 
upon the Italian allies, but is murdered. 

The Social or Marsic war. 

The Lex Julia confers the franchise on the Latins. 

The Etruscans and Umbrians obtain the franchise. End of the 
Social War. 

First war against Mithridates. Civil war between Marius and 
Sulla. Marius flees to Africa. 

Marius returns to Rome. Scenes of horror at Rome. 

Siege and capture of Athens by Sulla. Marius dies in his seventh 
consulship. 

Peace concluded with Mithridates. 

Sulla returns to Italy, and is successful against his opponents. 

Second war against Mithridates. 

Capture of Praeneste. Young Marius kills himself. Battle at 
the Colline gate. Q. Sertorius goes to Spain. Sulla enters 
Rome. First proscription. Sulla dictator. Political and 
legal reforms. 

Sulla lays down his dictatorship, and withdraws to Puteoli. 

War against Sertorius. 

Death of Sulla. Connuencement of the war against the pirates. 

Third war against Mithridates. 

Sertorius allies himself with Mithridates of Pontus. 

Servile war in Italy. Sjiartacus. 

Lucullus defeats Mithridates. 

Murder of Sertorius at Osca. 

The slaves defeated by M. Licinius Crassus. 

Cn. Pompey consul. The political reforms of Sulla abolished 

Lucullus defeats Tigranes and Mithridates at Tigranocerta. 

Cn. Pompey undertakes the war against the pirates. Lucuilus 
recalled. 

Cn. Pompey obtains the command against Mithridates. 



450 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



B.C. 65 



63 

62 
61 
59 

58 

67 
55 

54 

63 

52 

61 

50 
49 



45 
44 
43 

42 
41 

40 

39 
38-36 

3fJ 

34 
32 
31 
30 
29 
27 

25-13 

24 

23 

20 

19 

16-13 

12 

12-9 

8-6 

6 

6 or 4 



Cn. Potnpey pursues Mitbridatcs into Albania and Iberia. J 

Caesar is eurule aedile, and puts himself at the head of the 

popular party. 
Mithridates, being conspired against by bis owu son, takes poison. 

Consulship of Cicero. Catilinarian conspiracy. 
Cn. Pompey returns to Italy. 

Caesar as propraetor in Spain. P. Clodius. I 

J. Caesar consul. 
P. Clodius tribune. Cicero goes into exile. Caesar proceeds to 

Gaul. 
Cicero recalled. 
Caesar receives the administration of Gaul for five years more. 

He crosses the Rhine, and invades Britain. 
Caesar invades Britain a second time. Death of Julia, Caesar's 

daughter. 
Caesar again crosses the Rhine. Crassus defeated in Syria. 
General' insurrection in Gaul. Fall of Alesia. Pompey for a time 

sole consul. 
Caesar returns to Cisalpine Gaul. Claudius Marcellus proposes 

measures against Caesar. 
Caesar is called ujkjh to disband his army. 
Caesar crosses tlie Rubicon. Pompey and his party flee from 

Italy. Caesar ia 8pain. On his return he is made 

dictator. 
Caesar consul. Battle of Pharsalus. 

Caesar defeats Pharnaees of Pontus : crosses over into Africa. 
Battle of Thapsus, in which the Pompeians in Africa are 

defeated. Caesar reforms the calendar, and goes to Spain 

against the sons of Pompey. 
Battle of Munda; the Pompeians defeated. 
Caesar murdered. 
War of Mutina. The triumvirate between Octavanus, Antony, 

and Lepidus. Proscription. Death of Cicero. 
Battles of Philippi. 
War of Perusia. 
Capture and destruction of Perusia. War with the Partbians 

begins. 
Peace of Misenura with Scxt. Pompeius. 
War against Sext. Pompeius. 
Sext. Pompeius defeated in the battle of Mylae. Lepidus deposed. 

Antony sustains groat loss against the Parthians. 
Antony conquers Armenia, and gives it to Cleopatra. 
War declared against the queen of Egypt. 
Battle of Actium. 
Death of Antony and Cleopatra. 
Octavianus returns to Rome. 

Octavianus receives the title of Augustus and Imperator. Di- 
vision of the provinces. Augustus goes to Spain. 
War against the Alpine tribes. 
Augustus returns from Spain. 
Augustus obtains the tribunician power for life. 
The Parthians send back the Roman standards. 
The Cantabri finally subdued by Agrippa. 
Augustus in Gaul, to protect its eastern frontiers. 
Death of Lepidus and Agrippa. 
Drusus has the command against the Germans. 
Tiberius succeeds Drusus against the Germans. 
Domitius Ahenobarbus takes the command against the Germans. 
Birtn of Jesus Christ. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



451 



Tiberius resumes the war against the Germans. 
Western Germany a Roman province. 
War against the revolted Dalmatians and Pannonians. 
Defeat of Varus. 
Death of Augustus. 
Reign of Tiberius. 

Revolt of the legions in Germany and Pannonia. 
Germanicus recalled from Germany. 
Germanicus dies in Syria. 

jElius Seianus guides the counsels of Tiberius. 
The castra praeton'a established near Rome. Drusus, son of Tibe- 
rius, poisoned. 
Tiberius withdraws to Capreae. 
Execution of Julius Seianus. 
Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. 
Tiberius murdered by suffocation. 
Reign of Caligula. 

A conspiracy funned against Caligula. 
Caligula murdered. 
Reign of Claudius. 

Commencement of permanent conquests in Britain. 
Successful war against the Parthians. 
The south-eastern part of Britain a Roman province. 
Reign of Nero. 
Corhulo drives the Parthians from Armenia. 

Insurrection in Britain under Boadicea. 

Nero banishes Oetavia. Burrus put to death. 

Great fire at Rome. 

Seneca the philosopher and Lucan the poet put to death. 

Tiridates recognised as king of Armenia. 

Nero goes to Greece. Insurrection of the Jews. Vespasian con- 
ducts the war against them. 

Servius Galba is murdered. 

Salvius Otho defeated at Bcdriacum, kills himself. 

Vitellius, is niurilored in the praetorian oamp. 

Vespasian. The siege of Jerusalem is left to Titus. 

Vespasian arrives at Rome. Capture and destruction of Jeru 
salem. Insurrection of Claudius Civilis and the Batavi. 

Petilius Cerealis, governor W Britain, is accompanied by Agri- 
cola. 

Philosophers expelled from Rome. 

Agricola governor of Britain. 

Reign of Titus. 

First recorded eruption of Vesuvius, and destruction of Hercu. 
laneum, Pompeii, and Stabiae. 

Great fire at Rome. Completion of the Colosseum. 

Reign of Domitian. 

Domitiau undertakes an expedition against the Chatti. 

Agricola defeats the Caledonians under Galgacus. 

The Dacians make war against the Romans. 

Domitian purchases peace of the Dacians. 

Reign of Nerva. 

Reign of Trajan. 

Trajan sets out against the Dacians. 

Peace with the Dacians. 

Second Dacian war, at the end of which Dacia becomes a Roman 
province. 

War against the Parthians. 

Armenia a Roman province. 

Reign of Hadrian ; he makes the Euphrates the boundary in the 
East. 



'i52 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



A.D. 118 

120-131 

131-130 

138-161 

161-180 

162 

166 

167 

169 

175 

178 
180-192 

ISO 
183 
184 
185 
193 
193 

193-211 

194 

197 
198 
208 

210 
211-212 

212 

212-217 

213 

214 

215 

217-218 

218-222 

222-235 

220 

228 
231 
233 
234 
235-238 
238 
238 

238-244 

241 

244-249 
248 

249-251 
250 

251-253 
252 
253 

253-268 



Iladrian returns to Rome from the East. War against the Sar- 

luatians. A corispirac-y against him suppressed. 
Hadrian travels through the provinces of the empire. 
War against tlie Jews. 

Reign of Antonius Pius. Peace throughout the empire. 
Reign of M. Aurelius. 

L. Verus goes to the East against the Parthians. 
Peace coiiduded with the Parthians. 
War against the Marcomanni and Quadi. 
Death of L. Verus. 
Peace with the Marcomanni concluded. Revolt of Avidius Cassius 

in the East. 
Renewal of the war against the Marcomanni. 
Reign of Commodus. 

Commodus purchases peace of the Marcomanni. 
Conspiracy against Commodus, headed by his sister Luoilla. 
War against the Caledonians terminated. 
Perennis recalled from Britain, and put to death. 
Reign of Pertinax lasts only three months. 
Reign of Didius Julianus. Purchases the imperial dignity, but 

reigns only two months. 
Reign of Septimius Severus. 

Pescennius Niger, who had been proclaimed in Syria, is defeated. 
The rebel Clodius Albinus defeated in Gaul. 
Severus carries on a successful war against the Parthians. 

Severus goes to Britain, which had been invaded by the 
Caledonians. 

The wall between the Tyne and Solway completed. 

Reign of Caracalla and Geta. 

Geta murdered by Caracalla. 

Caracalla reigns alone. 

Caracalla visits Gaul. 

lie invades Germany, but purchases peace. 

Massacre at Alexandria in Egypt. 

Reign of Macrinus. Purchases peace of the Parthians. 

Reign of Elagabalus. 

Reign of Alexander Severus. 

Foundation of the new Persian empire of the Sassanidae on the 
ruins of that of ?'arthia. 

Ulpian the jurist murdered by the soldiers. 

Alexander Severus makes war upon the Persians. 

He returns to Rome, and triumphs. 

He proceeds to Gaul, to protect it against the Germans. 

Reign of Maximinus : is successful against the Germans. 

Gordian and his son proclaimed emperors by the senate. 

Maximus and Balbinus made emperors by the senate. Young 
Gordian raised to the rank of Caesar. 

Reign of Gordian III. 

Gordian marries the daughter of Misitheus, and sets out against 
Sapor I., king of Persia,. 

Reign of Philippus. Makes peace with the Persians. 

Ludi Saeculares at Rome. 

Reign of Decius. 

The Goths cross the Danube and invade Thrace. 

Reign of Gallus' Trebonianus. 

Death of Hostilianus by the plague, which rages for fifteen years. 

jEmilianus proclaimed emperor in Moesia, but is murdered after 
a reign of four months. 

Valerian and Gallienus emperors. The barbarians invade the 
empire on all sides. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



453 



Successful war against the Franks. 

Valerian sets out against the Persians. Postuinus sets himself up 

as emperor in Gaul. 
Valerian taken prisoner by the Persiiins. 
Gallienus sole emperor. Period of the Thirty Tyrants. 
Miicrianus assumes the purple. 
Aureolus proclaimed in Raetia. 

Odenathus of Palmyra recognised as an independent sovereign. 
Odenathus is slain, and succeeded by his wife Zenobia. Tetricu 

sets himself up as emperor in Gaul. 
Claudius II., surnamed Gothicus, emperor. Defeats the Ale 

manni. 
Claudius sets out against the Goths, who .are defeated. 
Claudius dies at Sirmium. 

Reign of Aurelian; he concludes peace with the Goths. 
Aurelian proceeds to the East against Zenobia, who had invaded 

Egypt. _ 
Zenobia besieged at Palmyra and taken prisoner. 
Tetrious in Gaul submits to Aurelian. 
Aurelian murdered. Interreign of six months. 
Claudius Tacitus emperor, successful in the East. 
Annius Florianus emperor for scarcely three months. 
Probus defeats the barbarians in Gaul, and secures the German 

frontier. 
Probus reduces the Isaurians and Blemmyae. 
Probus murdered by his soldiers at Sirmium. 
Carus emperor. 
Carus with his son Numerianus sets out against the Persians, but 

dies at Ctesiphon. Numerianus and Macrinus recognised as 

emperors, but the former is murdfered and the latter defeated 

by Diocletian. 
Reign of Diocletian; he assumes Maximian as his colleague. 
Maximian defeats the Bagaudae in Gaul, and drives the Alemanni 

across the Rhine. The Saxons. 
Carausius assumes the imperial dignity in Britain. 
Diocletian at Nicomedeia nominates Constantius, Chlorus, and 

Galerius Caesars. The empire divided among the four rulers. 
Carausius slain by Alectus, who maintains himself for a period of 

three years. 
Galerius defeats the Carpi. 

Constantius defeats Alectus and recovers Britain. 
Galerius compels the Persians to conclude peace. 
Constantius defeats the Alemanni. 

The four sovereigns meet at Rome to devise means against Chris- 
tianity, which they attempt t.o suppress. 
Diocletian abdicates and retires to Salonae. Maximian follows 

his example. 
Constantius and Galerius succeed as emperors, but the former 

dies the year after. 
Constantino assumes the r.ank of Caesar in Britain. 
Reign of Constantino. 
Severus, one of the Caesars, put to death at Ravenna. Licinius 

raised to the imperial dignity by Galerius. 
Maximian commits suicide. 
Death of Galerius. 
War between Maxentius and Constantine. The former is defeated, 

flees, and perishes in the Tiber. 
Maximinus defeated at Adrianople. Death of Diocletian. Con- 
stantine and Licinius the only surviving sovereigns. Edict iu 

favour of the Christians. 



454 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 



A.D. 314 

323 

325 
325-334 
332 
334 
337 

338 
340 

350 

351 

353 
354 
355 

356 
357 
360 
361 
361-363 
363 



363-384 

364-375 

365 
366 
367 
368 
370 
371 
375 



3?6 

377 
378 

379 

383 

387 
388 

392 

394 
395 



War between Constantin'8 and Licinius, in which the latter, on 

being defeated, make concessions to his conqueror. 
War between Constantine and Ticinius, in which the latter la 

completely defeated, and Constantine remains sole emperor. 
The Council of Nicaea. Orthodoxy defined. 
Extension and fortification of Constantinople. 
War against the Goths. 

A large body of Sarmatians receive settlements in the empire. 
Death of Constantine near Nicomedeia. Constantine II., Con- 

stantius, and Constans, divide the empire. 
Constantius commences war against Persia. 
War between Constantine II. and Constans, in which the former 

is defeated and killed. Constans sole emperor of the West. 
Magnentius assumes the purple at Autun in Gaul. Death of 

Constans. 
War between Magnentius and Constantius, in which the former is 

defeated. 
Magnentius kills himself. Constantius sole emperor. 
Gallus is recalled from the East, and murdered at Pola. 
Silvanus assumes the purple in Gaul, but is slain. Julian ap- 
pointed to the command in .Gaul. 
Successful campaign of Julian against the Germans. 
Julian clears the eastern frontier of Gaul from enemies. 
Julian procl.aimed emperor at Paris. 
Death of Constantius. 
Fieign of Julian the Apostate. 
Julian attemjits to have the temple of Jerusalem rebuilt. Sets out 

from Anlioch against the Persians. Gains a victory near 

Ctcsiphon. Is slain. 
Jovian empertir. Concludes peace with the Persians, who recover 

their lost provinces. 
Valentinian emperor. Associates his brother Valens with himself 

in the empire. 
War between V.alens and the usurper Procopius. 
The Alemauni repulsed in Gaul. Procopius defeated by Valens. 
Gratian, son of Valentinian, declared Augustus. 
The Alemanni again defeated. 
Peace concluded with the Goths. 
Saxon pirates cut to pieces. 
Valentinian takes the field against the Quadi and Sarmatians. 

Death of Valentinian. The Huns cross the Volga, and throw 

themselves upon the Goths. Valentinian II. made Augustus, 

though only four years old. 
A portion of the Goths are allowed by Valens to settle in Moesia 

and Thrace. 
The Goths rise against the Romans. 
The Goths defeat Valens with immense slaughter at Adrianople. 

Death of Valens. Gratian defeats the Alemanni. 
Gratian raises Theodosius I. to the rank of Augustus, who 

defeats the Goths. 
Revolt of Maximus in Britain. Death of Gratian. 
Maximus expels Valentinian II. from Italy. 
Theodosius sets out against Maximus, who is put to death. 

Arbogastes guardian of Valentinian. 
Valentinian murdered in Gaul. Arbogastes proclaims Eugenius 

emperor. 
Theodosius defeats both Arbogastes and Eugenius near Aquileia. 
Death of Theodosius at Milan. He is succeeded by his sons 

Arcadius and Honorius, the former emperor of the East, and 

the hitter of the West. Stilicho, guardian of Honorius, 

causes the murder of Rulinus, the sjuardian of Arcadius. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



455 



A.D. 397 

398 
402 

403 

406 
407 
408 



Stilicbo sets out against the Goths who are dcvastatin"' Greece 

Revolt of Gildo in Africa. ° 

Gildo defeated and Iiilled. 

Alaric and his Goths invade Italy, but are induced to return 
Alaric plunders the north of Italy. Battle of Pollentia. Peace 

vt-ith Alaric. 
The Goth Radagaisus with a numerous horde invades Italy ; but 

IS defeated and slain by Stilicho. The Vandals enter Gaul 
Ravages in Gaul continued. Constantine in Britain usurps the 

imperial title, and crosses over into Gaul. 
Alaric again appears in Italy. Stilicho murdered. Alaric lays 
siege to Rome, which in the end capitulates. Death of 
Arcadius. 
Alaric again appears before Rome. Attalus proclaimed emperor 
instead of Honorius, The Vandals establish themselves in 
bpain. 
Alaric besieges and takes Rome the third time. Death of Alaric. 
ihe usurper Constantine taken and killed. 
Jovinus assumes the purple at Mayeuce. 
Peace between Adolphus and Honorius. 

Adolphus is murdered in Spain, and succeeded by Wallia the 
founder of the empire of the Visigoths in Spain. The Bur- 
gundians and Franks become independent. 
Constantius made Augustus by Honorius. 
Death of Honorius. Joanneis assumes the purple. 
Joannes is defeated. Valentinian III. emperor. 
The last Roman garrisons are withdrawn from Britain. 
Bonifauius invites the Vandals under their king Genseric to come 

to Africa. 
Bonifacius defeated by the Vandals at Hippo. 
War between Bonifacius and Aetius. 
Restoration of Aetius. 

Peace with Genseric, to whom a part of Africa is ceded. 
The Codex Theodosianus published. 
Carthage taken by Genseric. 
The Huns under Attila cross the Danube. 
New peace with Genseric, in which further concessions are made 

to him. 
Attila invades Thrace and Thessaly. 
Death of Theodosius II., who is succeeded dy Marcianus. 
Attila crosses the Rhine and invades Gaul. Battle of Chalons, 

in which the Huns are defeated. 
Attila invades Italy. 
Death of Attila. 

Aetius murdered by Valentinian. 

Valentinian slain by conspirators. Maximus, one of them, 

assumes the purple, but is killed by the soldiers. The Vandals 

enter Rome, which they plunder and sack. Avitus proclaimed 

emperor in Gaul. 

Avitus is obliged to abdicate. Interregnum of more than a year. 

Ricimer has all the power in his hands. 
Majorian. 
Majorian goes to Spain, intending to cross over into Africa 

against the Vandals. 
Majorian deposed, and put to death. Severus proclaimed, but 

Ricimer reigns in his name. 
Death of Severus, after which Ricimer rules untO 467'. 
Anthemius emperor. 

A great undertaking against the Vandals fails through the mis- 
conduct of Basiliscus. 



456 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



A.D. 472 



473 
474 
475 



476 



Civil war between Anthemius and Ricimer. The former is killed, 

and Ricimer haying captured Rome, proclaims Olybrius 

emperor. Death of Ricimer and Olybrius. 
Glycerins proclaimed emperor. 
Julius Nepos made emperor. Deposes Glycerins. 
Nepos is dethroned by Orestes, who causes his son Eomulua 

Augustulus to be proclaimed. 
Orestes defeated and slain at Placentia by the German troops 

under Odoacer. Romulus resigns his dignity. Odoacer, kins 

of Italy. End of the Western Empire. 



INDEX. 



Abdera, 164. 

Abydos, 176, 227. 

Acanthos, 205. 

Acarnadia, 112, 227, 230. 

Acarnanians, 266. 

Achaean League, 260, &c. 

Achaeans, 121, &c., 132, 161, 261, &c., 269, 337. 

Achaemenidae, 71. 

Achaeus, 272. 

Achaia, 115. 

Achilles, 410. 

Agoka, 52. 

Acte, 386. ' 

Actium, 378. 

Adi3, 322. 

Admetus, 187. 

Adolphus, 423, 424. 

Adrianople, 412, 419, 

.Xgatian Islands, 324. 

Mgeae, 242. 

.ffigicores, 147. 

.ffigidius, 427, 428. 

iEgina, 159, 173, 179, 191. 

iEglon, 261. 

.ffigospotami, 218. 

.flimilius Jimilianug, 404. 

.Sneas, 283. 

.Solian Colonies, 127, 131, 155. 

^olians, 121, Ac, 127. 

^aiquians, 297, &c., 304, 310, 311. 

Aeropus, 234. 

iEschines, 339, &c. 

iEschylus, 195. 

Aetius, 425, <fec. 

.aetolia, 112. 

iEtolians, 253, 262, 264, &c., 269. 

Afranius, 368. 

Agathocles, 259; (H.) 319. 

AgesUaus, 225, 226, &c., 233. 

Agesipolls, 229. 

Agiatis, 261. 

Agis I.. 203 ; (II.) 211, 214, 217, 225 ; (lU.) 251 ; 

(IV.) 261. 
Agrarian laws, 297, 345, &c., 3C3. 
Agricola, 390, &c. 
Agrigentum, 161, 319, 321. 
Agrippa, 375, 377, 378, 381. 
Agrippa Postumus, 381. 
Agrippina, 382; (H.) 385, 386. 
Agron, 89. 
Agyrrhius, 227. 
Alani, 407, 418. 
Alaric, 421, Ac. 
Alba Longa, 281, 286, &c. 
Albinus, Clodius, 400. 
Alcaeus, 166. 
Alcibiades, 207, &c. 

39 



Alcmaeon, 149. 

Alcmaeonids, 151, 154, 157, 158. 

Alectus, 409. 

Alemanni, 405, &c., 409, 410, 416, 417. 

Alesia, 366. 

Aleuadae, 176. 

Alexander, 170,181, 182; (U.) 232; (III.) 232, 

235; (IV.) 236; (V.) 242; (VI.) 254; (VII.) 

255, 256; (VIII.) 258. 
Alexander the Great, 43, 44, 64, 85, 241, 242, &c. 
Alexandria, 247, 248, 274, 375, 401. 
Aliso, 379, 380. 
Allia, 303, 305. 
Alllfae, 310. 
Altai, 31. 

Althaemenes, 161. ' 
Alyattes, 89, 163. 
Amasis, 109. 
Ambracia, 240. 
Ambrose, 420. 

Ammianus Marcellinus, 416. 
Ammon, 247. 

Amphictiones, 144. 237. 240, 242. 
Amphipolis, 205, 236, 339. 
Amphissa, 240. 
Amuhia, 78. 
Amulius, 283. 
Amyntas, 169. 
Amyrtaeus, 110; (II.) 191. 
Anacreon, 166. 
Anaximander, 167. 
Anaximenes, 167. 
Ancus Martins, 287, &c. 
Ancyra, 274. 
Anderion, 380. 
Andria, 135. 
Andriscus, 269, 336. 
AndroB, 217. 
Antalcidas, 227, 228. 
Anthemius, 424 ; (II.) 429. 
Antigonus, 245. &c., 254, &e, 
Antigonus Doson, 264. 
Antigonus Gonatas, 258, 259, 263, 264. 
Antinous. 395. 

Antioch, 271, 383, 394, 401, 404, 405. 
Antiochus, 217. 
Antiochus the Great, 266, Ac, 272, &c., 276. 

335. 
Antiochus Hierax, 272. 
Antiochus Soter, 272. 
Antiochus Theus, 64, 272. 
Antiochus XIII., 273, 361. 
Antipater, 241, 244, 251, &c., 254; (H.) 258. 
Antipater the Idumaean, 361. 
Antiphilus, 253. 
Antiphon, 215, 
Aatonia, 387. 

(457) 



458 



INDEX. 



Antoninus Pius, 396, 397. 

Antonius, Lucius, 374. 

Antonius, Marcus, 367. 

Antonius Primus, 388. 

Antony, Marli, 370, 372, &c. 

Anysis, 106. 

Aosta, 328. 

Apellico, 353. 

Appius Claudius, 300, &C.; (n.)313; (III.) 321, 

324. 
Appius Claudius the Blind, 315. 
Apries, 109. 
Apulia. 309, Ac. 
Aquae Sextiae, 349, 364. 
Aquileia, 397, 403, 415, 420, 425, 426. 
Aquitania, 364. 
Aratus, 260, 201, &c., 264. 
Arbogastes. 420. 
Arcadia, 115. 

Arcadians, 115, 231, 2.S2, &c., 264. 
Arcartius, 419, &c., 424. 
Archelaus, 234; (II.) 352, 353, 356. 
Ai'chestratus, 198. 
Archidaraus, 188, 199, &c 
Archilochus, 166. ■ 
Archimedes, 331. 
Archons, 148, 186. 
Ardea, 291, 292. 
Ardishir, 402. 
Ardys, 89, 163. 

Areopagus, 152, 153, 186, 189, &c., 222. 
Argades, 147. 
Argaeus, 235. 
Argolis, 115. 
Argonauts, 125. 

Argos, 142, 207, 239, 259, 262, 266. 
Ariaeus, 223. 
Aricia, 281, 308. 
Arion, 166. 
Ariovistus, 365. 
Aristagoras, 169. 
Aristides, 176, &c. 
Aristobulus, 245, <S;e. 
Aristobulus (of Judaea), 361. 
Ari.'Jtodemus, 141. 
Aristogeiton, 156, 157, 251. 
Aristomenes, 142, 143. 
Aristonicus, 343, 352. 
Aristophanes, 195, 222. 
Aristotle, 242, 353. 
Armenia, 274, 387, 394. 
Arminius, 380, 383, 384. 
Arrhibaeus, 205. 
Arrhidaeus, 254. 
Arsaces, 272. 
Arsacidae, 364. 
Arsinoe, 259. 
Artabanes, 401. 
Artabanus, 223. 
Artabazus, 182. 
Artaphernes, 170, 173. 
Artavasdes, 375. 
Artasata, 360. 

Artaxerxes, 187, 190, 218, 223, 236, 244. 
Artemisium, 177. 
Arya, 42, Ac, 59. 
Ascra, 165. 
Asculum, 314. 
Asia, 31, &c. 
Aspasia, 196. 
Aspendos, 227. 
Assyrians, 64, 65, 72, <fcc., 394. 
Astarte, 74. 
Astures, 378. 



Astyages, 65. 

Athanaric, 420, Ac. 

Athenian Senate, 152, 153, 158. 

Athens, 115, 147, Ac, 172, 179, 184, 196, Ac, 

200, 215, 221, 253, 257, 258, 26e, 265, 269, 

337, 353, 395, 416, 422. 
Athos, 175. 

Atilius Calatinus, 322. 
Attalus, 242, 243; (II.) 266,^72, 343; (III.) 

423. 
Attica, 114, 147, Ac, 173. 
Attila, 366, 426. 
Attok, 248. 
Augurs, 285. 
Augustin, 426. 
Augustulus, 429, 430. 
Augustus, 377, Ac. 
Aulis, 257. 
Aurelian, 406. 
Aurelius, 396, Ac. 
Aureolus, 406. 
Ausonius, 419. 
Autophradates, 261 
Aventine, 301. 
Avidius Cassius, 397. 
Avitus, 428. 

Baal, or Bolus, 78, 80. 

Babel, or Babylon, 73, Ac, 247, 250, 271. 

Bacchylides. 195. 

Bactria, or Bactriana. 63, 64, 247, 248. 272. 

Baecula, 331. 

Bagaudae, 409, 422. 

Bagoas, 246. 

Baiae, 395. 

Balbinus, 403. 

Balearic Islands, 318. 

Balista, 405. 

Barsine, 249. 254. 

Basiliscus, 429. 

Batavi, 390. 

Bedriacum, 388. 

Belmina, 209. 

Benacus, 406. 

Beneventum, 315. 

Berenice, 259. 

Berosus, 77. 

Bessus, 247. 

Bibracte, 365. ' 

Bithynia, 274, 359, 361. 

Blemmyae. 407. 

Boadicca, 387. . 

Bocchus, 348. j 

Boeotia, 114. 

Boeotians, 176. 

Boians, 313, 326, 336. 

Bonifacius, 425. 

Bovianum, 310, 311. 

Brahmins, 45, 46, 47. 

Rrasidas. 205, Ac. 

Brasideia, 206. 

Brennus, 259 ; (II.) 303. 

Britain, 365, 385, 386, 387, 398, 418, 424, 425. 

Britannicus, 386. 

Brundusium, 368, 375. 

Bruttians, 332. 

Brutus, 291; (M. Junius), 371, Ac; (Decimus), 

372. 
Bucephala, 248. 
Buddhism, 45, 50, Ac 
Burgundians, 424, 426. 
Burrus. 386. 
Byzantium. 161, 172, 184, 193, 217, 240, 400, 

412, 413. 



INDEX. 



459 



Cadmus, 122 ; (of Miletus), 166. 
Caecilius, 323. 
Caecina, 383. 
Caelian Hill, 286. 
Caere, 292. 

Caesar, Julius, 351, 360, 363 ; (Cams and Lu- 
cius), 381. 
Caledonians, 392, 399, 400. 
Caligula, 383, 'SSi, 385. 
Callias, 198. 
Callicratidas, 218. 
Callimachus, 174. 
Callisthenes, 250. 
Callistus, 385. 
Camarina, 322. 
Cambj'ses, 67, 68, Ac. 
Camillus, 302, &c. 

Campanians. 306. &c.; 311, 312, 321, 428. 
Cam pi Kaudii, 349. 
Candahar, 248. 
Candaules, 89. 
Cannae, 330. 

Cantabri, 378. 
Canuleius, 301. 

Capeliaaus. 403. 

Capitol. 288, 299, 303, 389. 

Capitoline Hill, 284. 

Cappadocia, 274. 

Capreae, 382. 

Capua, 306, 330, 331, 358, 428. 

Caracalla, 400. 

Caranuis, 234. 

Carausius, 409. 

Carbo, 354, 356. 

Carinus, 408. 

Carneades, 340. 

Carrhae, 364. 

Carthage, 87, 210, 315, 316, &c., 437, 426. 

Carus, 408. 

Casilinum, 329. 

Cassander, 254, Ac, 258. 

Cassian Law, 344. 

Caesius, (Caius), 364, 371; (Quintus), 367. 

Cassivelaunus, 365. 

Castes, 36, 45, 95, &c. 

Castor, 295. 

Catana, 210, 211. 

Catiline, 355, 361. 

Cato (the Censor), 337, 340, 4c.; Col' Utiea), 
364, 370. 

Catulus, 349, 354. 

Catualda, 384. 

Caucasians, 91. 

Caudium, 309. ' 

Cecrops, 122, 147. 

Celtiberians, 327, 342. 

Celts, 259. 272, 280, &c., 303, 311, 320, 327. 

Censors, 301, &c. 

Cephallenia, 230. 

Cephissus, 226. 

Cerasus, 360. 

Chabrias, 230. 

Chaeroncia, 241, 353. 

Chalcedon, 217, 402, 412. 
Chalcideus, 214. 

Cbaldaeans, 67, 79, Ac. 
Chalons, 427. 

Chares, 236. , 

Charon, 229. 

Cheirisophus, 224. 

Chemi, 90. 

Chersonesus, 218. 

Chians, 214, 236. 

China, 36, &c. , 



Chinese "Wall, 40. 

Christ, 380, 383. 

Christians, 386, 389, 392, 396, 403, 404, 409, 

410, 412, Sec, 430. 
Cibalae, 411. 
Cicero, 360, &c., 373. 
Cilicia, 359. 
Cinibri, 348. 

Cimon, 185, &c., 187, &c. 
Cinadon, 225. 
Cincinnatus, 298, 302. 
Cineas, 314. 
Cinna, 353. 
Circesium, 404. 
Cirta, 000. 
Oivita A'ecchia, 393. 
Cla.stidium, 326. 

Claudian, 422. 

Claudius (the Emperor), 384, &c.; (Civilis;, 
390 ; (Gothieus), 406. 

Clazomenae, 214, 228. 

Cleander, 398. 

Cleisthenes, 157, Ac. ■ 

Cleitus, 245, Ac, 250. 

Cleombrotus, 229, 231.' 

Cleomedes, 208. 

Cleomenes, 157, Ac, 171; (II.) 173; (in.) 202, 
Ac. 

Cleon, 202, Ac. 

Cleopatra, 242; (H.) 276; fni) 276; (Queen 
of Egypt), 369, 370. 

Clients, 285. 

Clodius, 360, 363.' 

Clevis, 429. 

CI u pea, 322, 323. 

Clusium, 303, 326. 

Cnidus, 226. 

Cniva 404. 

Codrus, 133, 148, 160. 

Collatia, 291. 

Collatinus, 291, 293. 

Colline gate, 355. 

Comitia, 289, 292, 313, 344. . 

Commodus, 397, Ac 

Confucius, 38, 39. 

Conon, 218, 226, Ac. 

Constans, 414, 415 ; (n.) 424 

Constaatine (the Great), 411, Ac; (II.) 414, 
415 ; (III.) 423, 424. 

Consuls, 293. 

Constantius (Chlorus), 410, Ac; (II.) 414. Ac.i 
(III.) 424. V / - 

Constantinople, 412. 

Copts, 91. 

Corbio, 299. 

Corbulo, 385. 

Corryra, 197, 203, 230. 

Corfinium, 351. 

Corinth, 197, 241, 242, 243, 257, 262, 270. 

Coriolanus, 296, Ac. 

Cornelia, 345. 

Cornelius, 310. 

Coroneia, 226, 238. 

Corsica, 317, 322, 325, 841. 

Cos, 215. 

Cosenza, 423. 

Cosmoi, 134. 

Cotta, 357. 

Crannon, 253. 

Crassus, M. Licinius, 359, 363, 364. 

Craterus, 234; (II.) 245, Ac, 249, 253, 256 

Cremera, 298. 

Cremona, 327, 388. 

Cresphontes, 140. 



460 



INDEX. 



Crete, 116, 133. 

Crissaean War, 144. 

Critias, 219. &c 

Critolaus, 270 ; (H.) 340. 

Croesus, GO, 07, 89, 163. 

Croton. 167, 168. 

Ctesias, 67, 74. 

Ctesiphon, 394, 397, 416. 

Cumae, 100; in Italy, 161, 280. 

Cunaxa, 223. 

Ouriatu, 286, 

Curio, 368. 

Cyaxares, 65, 75, 78. 

Cyclades, 116. 

Cyclic poets, 166. 

Cydnus, 246. 

Cylon, 150. 

Cynoscephalae, 232, 266. 

Cynossema, 216. 

Cyprus, 228, 364. 

Cyrene, 162, 275. 

Cyrupedion, 259. 

Cyrus. King of Persia, 63, 65, &c., 163; (H.) 

216, 218. 223, &c. 
Cythera, 204, 226. 
Cytinion, 240 
Cyzicus, 217, 360. 

Dactaxs, 392, 393, 394, 406. 

Dadastana, 418. 

Daluiatia, 379, 429. 

Dalmatius, 414. 

Damascus, 246. 

Danaus, 122, 124. 

Danube, 397. 

Darius. 70. Ac, 109, 168, 173, 175; (Codom an- 
nus), 244, Ac.; (Nothus), 223. 

Datis, 173. 

Daurises, 171. 

Decebalup, 392, 394. 

Decelea. 210, 211, 214. 

Decemvirs, 299. 

Decentius, 415.- 

Decius, Publius, 307, 312; (Mus), 307; (tbe 
Kmperor), 404. 

Deioces, 65. 

Delium, 205. 

Deles, 160. 

Delphi. 114, 178, 192, 237, 239, 259. 

Delta. 100. 

Demadf'S, 251. 

Demetrius Phalereus, 256. 257 ; (Polioroctcs), 
255, Ac, 257, Ac; (HI.) 263; (IV.) 264, 
327: (V.) 268. 

Demi, 157, 

Demochares, 257, 259. 

Democritus, 269. 

Demonax, 162. 

Demosthenes (the general), 203, Ac, 212. 

Demosthenes (the orator), 238, Ac, 244, 252, 
253. 

Dentatus, 315. 

Dercyllidas, 224. 

Diadumenianus, 402. 

Diaeus, 269, Ac. 

Dido, 316. 

Diocletian, 409, Ac. 

Diodorus Siculus, 74, 103. 

Diogenes, 340. 

Dionvsius (the elder), 319 ; (the younger), 232, 
319. 

Dolabella, 370. 

Domitia, 392. 

Domitian, 389, 391, Ac. 



DomitiuR Ahenobarbus, 379 ; (Corbulo), 387. 

Dorian Colonies, 160. 

Dorian Pentapolis,'161. 

Dorians, 116, 121, Ac, 132, 176. 

Doi-is, 114. 

Draco, 149. 

Dreprana, 323. 

Druids, 366. 

DrusuB, 379 ; (son of Tiberius), 382. 

Duilius, 322. 

Dymanes, 137. 

Dyrrachiujn, 368. 

ECBATANA, 65, 69. 

Ecclesiae, 153, 158.. 

Ecnomus. 322. 

Edessa, 401, 405. 

Egeria, 2S5. 

Egcsta, 209, Ac 

Egypt, 90, Ac, 245, 254, 271, 274, Ac, 339, 406. 

Elagabulus, 402. 

Elateia, 240. 

Elea, 164, 167. 

Elcuisis. 258. 

Elis, 115. 

Emesa, 401. 

Empcdocles, 167. 

Epaminondas, 229, Ac. 

Ephesus, 171. 

Ephialtes, 178; (IT.) 189. 

Ephors, 138, 142, 221, 260, 261, 264. 

Epicti'tus, 392. 

Epidamnus, 197. 

Epidaurus, 207. 

Epimeuides, 151.' 

Epitadas, 204. , 

Equitcs, 346. 

Eretria, 173. 

Erythrae, 214. 

Eryx, 324. 

Etruscans, 279, 280, 281, 294, 298, 304,310, Ac, 

313. 
Euboea. 214. 240 
Euclu'iius, 423. 
Encratiilus, 04. 
Eudamidas, 228. 
Eudoxia, 428. 
Eugenius, 420. 

Eumones. 254, Ac; (of Pergamus), 335. 
Eunus, 344. 
Euric. 429. 
Eurybiades, 177, 180. 
Eurvmedon, 211. 212; (in Pamphylia), 188. 
Euripedcs, 195. 222. 
Eusebia, 415. 
Euscbius, 414. 
Eutropius, 421. 

Fabh, 298. 

Eabius Maximus, 310, 312; (II.) 329, 331. 

Fabius, Quintus, 312, 327. 

Fabricius, 314, Ac. 

Faesulae, 422. 

Faustina, 397. 

Fidenae, 284, 286, 302, 384. 

Fimbria, 353. 

Firdusi, 63. 

Flaccus, 346, 347. 

Flamens, 285. 

Flamininus, 266, Ac 

Flaminius, Caius, 326, 329. 

Florianus, 407. 

Fo. 62. 

Franks, 405, '406, 415, 424. 



INDEX. 



461 



Fregellae, 309, &e. 
Fritigern, 419. 
Fronto, 395. 
Fucine Lake, 385. 
Fulvia, 373, 374. 

Gabinian Law, 344. 

Gabinius, 359. 

Gainas, 422. 

Galatians, 259, 273. 

Galba, Servius Sulpicius, 342 ; (the Emperor), 

387, 388. 
Galerius, 410. 
Galgacus, 392. 
Galla, 419. 

Galla Placidia, 424, Ac. 
Galla Cisalpina, 326. 
Gallienu3, 405. 
Gallus, 414, 415. 
Gallus, ^lius, 378. 
Gallus Trebonianus, 404, 405. 
Qaugamela, 247. 
Gaul, 364, &c. 

Qaule, 303, &c., 313, 326, 328. 
Gaurus, 307. 
Gaza, 272. 
Gedrosia, 249. 
Gela, 161, 205. 
Gelo, 177, 318. 
Genseric, 425, 426, 427, &c. 
Genucius, 297. 
Germanicus, 382, 383. 
Germans, 379, Ac, 383, 385, 397, 403, 404, 409, 

430. 
Geesius Florus, 390. 
Geta, 400. 
Getae, 243. 
Gildo, 422. 

Glabrio, 267; (M.'AciUus), 360. 
Glaucia, 350. 
Qlycerius, 429. 
Gordian, 403; (H.) 403. 
Gordium, 246. 

Goths, 404, Ac, 414, 418, Ac, 422. 
Gracchus (Cains), 298, Ac; (Cloelius), 330 ; (Ti 

berius), 330, 335, 345. 
Granicus, 246. 
Gratian, 417, 419. 
Greece, 111, Ac. 
Gundobald, 429. 
Gyges, 89, 163. 
Gyiippus, 210, Ac. 
Gythium, 231. 

Hadrian, 156, 394, Ac. 

Haliartos, 226. 

Halicamassus, 161, 246. 

Hamilcar, 318, 319; (TI.) 326, Ac, 32., Ac. 

Hannibal, 265, 266, 327, Ac, 335. 

Hannibalianus, 414. 

Hanno, 327. 

Harmodius, 156, 251. 

Harmosts, 225. 

Harpagus, 164. 

Harpalus, 251. 

Hasdrubal, 327; (II.) 328, 331. 332. 

Hecataeus, 170. 

Hegesistratus, 156. 

Heliaea, 153, 158. 

Hellas, 112, Ac. 

Hellenes, 111, Ac, 118, Ac 

Hellespont, 175 

Helos, 231. 

Helots, 133, 137, 140, 141. 

39* 



Helvetii, 36o. 
Helvidius Priscus, 389. 
Hephaestion, 245, Ac. 
Heraclcia, 253, 270. 
Heracleids, 89. 

Heracles (the Hero), 124; (the aon of Alex- 
ander the Great), 254. 
Heraclitus, 167. 
Herat, 248. 
Herculaneum, 391. 
Herdonius, 299. 
Hermaeum (Cape), 323. 
Hermes, 209. 
Hermocrates, 205, 210, Ac 

Hernicans, 310, 311. 

Herod, 361. 

Herodes Atticus, 395. 

Herodotus, 65, 67, 68, 103. 

Hesiod, 136, 165, 280. 

Hiero, 320, Ac, 330 

Hieronymus, 330. 

Himera, 161, 181, 211, 318, 819. 

Hindoo Mythology, 48, Ac. 

Hindoos, 42, Ac. 

Uipparchus, 156, Ac. 

Hippias, 156, Ac, 171, 173. 

Hippomenes, 149. 

Hipponax, 166. 

Hippo Kegius, 317, 425. 

Hirtius, 372. 

Histiaeus, 169, Ac. 

Homer, 130, 165. 

Homeric poems, 126, Ac, 166, 281. 

Honoria, 426. 

Honorius, 419, Ac. 

Hopletes, 147. 

Horatii, 286. 

Horatius Codes, 294. 

Hostilianus, 404. 

Huns, 418. 

Hycsos, 104. 

Hylleans, 137. 

Hyperidea, 252, 253. 

Hyrcanus, 361. 

lAPTGUN Lavquaoe, 279. 

Iberians, 327. 

Ibycus, 166. 

lUyricum, 240, 242, 243, 263, 264, 826, 827. 

363. 
Inarus, 190. 
India, 41, Ac. 

Indo-Germanic Race, 32, 33. 
Insubrians, 326, 335. 
Ionian Colonies, 161, Ac. 
lonians, 121, Ac, 132, Ac, 343. 
Iphicrates, 226, 227, 230, 232, 235, 286. 
Ipsus, 255. 
Iran, 58, Ac.' 
Isagoras, 158. 
Isauri, 405. 
Iscander, 251. 
Ismenia.s, 229. 
Issus, 247, 399. 
Isthmian games, 145, 266. 
Italica, 393. 
Italicus, 385. 
Italy, 278, Ac 
Ithome, 141, 188, 231. 

Jantjs, 285, 376. 
Ja.son (of Pherae), 232. 
Jerusalem, 388, 390, 396. 
Jews, 387, 390, 39a. 



462 



INDEX. 



Joannes, 424. 
Jotapata, 390. 
Jovian, 417. 
JoTinus, 424. 
Juba, 370. 
Jugurtha, 347, &e. 
Julia, 381; (Domna), 400. 
Julian the Apostate, 415, &c. 
Julian, 410; (Didius), 399. 
Julius Nepos, 429. 
Justina, 419. 
JuTenal, 398. 

Kalibasa, 55. 
Ksbatriyas, 46. 

Lacoxia, 115. 

Lamachus, 209, &e. 

Lamia, 253 

Lamian War, 253. 

Lampsacos, 187, 218. 

Larcius, 295. 

Latins, 279, 281, 287, 295, 307, 308, 309, 351. 

Latium, 281, 307. 

Lautulae, 310. 

Lechaeon, 226. 

Leo I. (the Pope), 426; (the Emperor), 428, 

430. 
Leocharcs, 258. 
Leonidas, 178; (H.) 261. 
Leonnatus, 253. 
Leontini, 203. 
Leosthenes, 236, 252, 253. 
Leotvchidcs, 183. 

Lepiilus, 357 ; (the Triujnvir), 372, Ac. 
Lesbos, leo, 214. 
Leucopctra, 270. 
Leuctra, 231. 
Libius Severus. 428. 
Libyans, 316, .325. 
Jjicinian Law, 305, 313, 345. 
Licinius Stoio. 304; (the Emperor), 411, &c 
Ligurians, 326, 335, Wl. 
Lilybaeum, 323. 
Liris, 385. 
Livia, 3S1. 

Livius Drusns, 346, 350, 351. 
Locrians, 240. 
Lucan. 386. 

Lucania, 309, 310, 311, 314. 
Luceres, 284, 288. 
Luceria, 309. 
Lucre tia, 291. 
Lucullus, 360. 
Lucumons, 279. 
Lusitania, 342. 363. 
Lutatius Catulus, 324. 
Lyceum. 156. 
Lyeia, 163, 164. 
Lycophron. 237. 
I,ycortas, 208. 
Lycursus, tlie Spartan lawgiver, 135, &c.; (IT.) 

I.'i4, 155 ; (III.) 241, 242; (the Ephor), 261 ; 

(V.) 264, 265. 
Lydia. 88, &o., 163, 343. 
Lygdamis, 156. 
Ly Sander, 214, 217, &c., 225. 
Lysandra, 259. 
Lysias, 194. 
Lysimachia, 259. 
Lysimachus, 255, 257, <5!C. 

Macetminta, 23 K &c., 267, 269, 336, ire. 
Machaaidas, 205. 



Macriantis. 406. 

Macrinus, 401. 

Macro, 383. 

Macandrius, 169. 

Maecena.s. 377. 

Maesa, 401. 

Magi, 68, 70, 72. 

Magna Graecia, 161, 280. 

Magnentius, 415. 

Magnesia (in Asia), 164, 187 ; (in Theesaly), 

238, 273. 
Mago, 317. 
M.ijorian, 427. 
Malchus, 317. 
Maleventum, 311. 
Main, 249. 

Mamertines, 320, 321. 
Mammaea, 402. 
Mancinus, 342. 
Manetho, 103. 275. 
Manilius, 300. 
Manlius (CapitoUnns), 303, Ac; (Lucius), 322; 

(Torquatus), 305, 307. 
Mantincia, 207, 228, 231, 233, 262, 265. 
Marathon, ITS, 174, 175. 
Maroi'llinus, 428. 
MarroUus, 326, 330; (H.) 367. 
JIarcia, 399. 
Marciana, 393. 
Marcianus, 427. 
JIarcius, 310. 

Marcomanni, 379, 384, 392, 397. 
Mardonius, 172, 180, &c. 
Marius (the elder), 347, &c., 362; (the younger), 

354. 
Maroboduus, 379, 384. 
Marsic War, 351. 
Marsians, 310, 351. 
Masinissa, 333, Ac, 337, &c., 347. 
Massagetae, 67. 
Ma.ssilia, 103, 364, 368. 
Massiva, 347. 
Blaxcntius, 411. 
Maximian, 409, &c. 
Maxiniinus. 403; (Daza), 411. 
Maximus, 403; (II.) 419; (III.) 427. 
Mazares, 164. 
Media, 64. Ac. 
Medon, 149. 
Mcgabazus, 169. 

Mesacles, 150. 161; (H.) 154. 155. 
Megalopolis, 231, 239, 251, 256, 263, 270. 
Megara, 20!)_, 202. 
Blcgaris, 115. 
Meloager, 275. 
Mclissus, 107. 
Mclos, 208. 
Meramius. .347, 350. 
Mcmnnn, 244, 246. 
Jlempbis, 254. 
Menenius Aarippa, 296. 
Meonians, 88. 
Mermnadac, 89. 
Mcroe, 92. 
Mesopotamia, 394. 
Messalla, 377. 
Messalina, 385. 
Messana, 320, 321. 
Messapians, 314. 

Messenia, 115, 140, 189, 231, 233, 268. 
Metaurus. .3.32. 
Metullus. 270, 336; (H.) 347, Ac, 350; (Sclplo), 

367, 370. 
Milan, 406, 409. 



INDEX. 



463 



Miletus, IGO, 162, 172, 214. 

Milo, 168. 

Miltiades, 163, 172. 

Mimnermus, 166. 

Mindarus, 216, 217. 

Minos, 125, 131. 

Minturnae, 353. 

Alinucius, 298. 

Misitheus, 403. 

Mithridates V., 343, 352; (VI.) 356, &c., 359, 

360. . 
Mizraim, 90. 

Moesia, 392, 394, 404, 418, 419 
Mona, 387. 
Mongols, 37. 
Mucianua, 389. 
Mucins Scaevola, 294. 
Mummius, 270, 337. 
Mnnda, 370. 

Muaychia, 184, 253, 257, 258. 
Murena, 356. 
Mursa, 415. 
Mutina, 372. 
Mycale, 183. 
Mylae, 322, 376. 
Myronides, 191, &c. 
Mytileneans, 156, £01. 
Myttistratum, 322. 
Myus, 322. 

Nabis, 265, 266. 

Nabonncdus, 67. 

Nabopolassar, 65, 75. 

Naissus, 406. 

Narbo Marcius, 364. 

Narcissus, 381. 

Narses, 408. 

Naxos, 170, 173, 187, 211, 230. 

Neapolis, 309. 

Nearchus, 249. 

Nebuchadnezzar, 77, 78, 86. 

Necho, 77, 82, 107. 

Nectabenos, 245.' 

Nemausus, 395, 396. 

Nemea, 226. 

Nemeau Games, 145. 

Neon, 237. 

Nero, 381, 385, Ac. 

Nerva, 392, 393. 

New Carthage, 327, 328, 331. 

Nicaea, 239. 

Nicanor, 255. 

Nicene Council, 255. 

Nicias, 204, &c. 

Nicomedeia, 409, 410, 414. 

Niconiedes III., 274, 359. 

Nicopolis, 361; (U.) 376. 

Nineveh, 65, 73. 

Ninus, 63, 73. 

Ninyas, 74. 

Nisibis, 394, 417. 

Nitocria, 77. 

Nola, 330, 352, 381, 427. 

Norbanua, 354. 

Noreia, 348. 

Numantia, 343. 

Nunia Pompiliua, 285. 

Numerianus, 408. 

Numiiia, 339. 

Numitor, 2S3. 

0.1SI8 of Siwah, 247. 
Oehus, 245. 
Uctavianus, 372, &c. 



Octavius, 345; (II.) 353. 
Odenathus, 405, 406. 
Odoacer, 429, 430. 
CEnophyta, 191. 
Ogulnian Law, 313. 
Olybrius, 429. 
Olympia, 115, 233. 
Olympias, 242, 254. 
Olympic Games, 115, 145. 
Olympus, 112. 
Olynthos, 198, 228, 338. 
Onomarchus 237, 238. 
Ophelias, 320. 
Opimius, 346. 
Orchomenos, 230, 237, 353. 
Orestes, 234; (II.) 429. 
Orodes, 364. 
Oropos, 241, 269. 
Osca, 357. 

Ostia, 287, 359, 385, 423. 
Ostracism, 158. 
Otho, 388. 
Oxylus, 132. 

Paches, 203. 

Paetus Thrasea, 389. 

Pagans, 420. 

Pagodas, 57. 

Palatine Hill, 282. 

Palestine, 272, 273. 

Palinurus, Cape, 323. 

Pallas, 385. 

Palmyra, 505, 506. 

Pamphilians, a Spartan tribe, 13T. 

Panathenaoa, 148. 

Pandatoria, 386. 

Panionium, 162. 

Pannonia, 379, 383. 

Panormus, 323. 

Pansa, 372. 

Papinian, 400, 401. 

Papirius Cursor, 310. 

Pariahs, 47. 

Parmenides, 167. 

Parmenio, 242, &c., 245, &C 

Parnassus, 114. 

Parsi, 61. 

Parthamaspates, 394. 

Parthenon, 194. 

Parthia, 272, 364, 375, 378, 385, 387, 394, 

397, 400, 401. 
Parysatis, 223. 
Patricians, 287, 289, 290, 292, 293, 295, 299, 

&c., 305, 308, 313. 
Paul, 386. 
Paulinus, 387. 
PauUus, 268, 327, 330. 
Pausauiaa, 181, &c., 184, &c., 226; (H.) 220, 

&c.; (III.) 235; IV. 235; (V.) 242. 
Pavia, 596. 

Pelasgians, 88, 118, 279. 
Pelignians, 310. 
Pell a, 235. 
Pelopidas, 229, &c 
Peloponnesus, 112, 115, Ae. 
Peloponnesian War, 196, &o. 
Pelops, 122. ^ „,, 

Perdiccas, 198, 205; (11.) 235, Ac, 250, 264 
Percnuis, 398. 

Pergamos. 274, 339, 342, Ac. 
Pericles, 189, Ac. 
Perinthos, 240. 
Perperna, 343; (II.) 358. 
Peraepolis, 247. 



464 



INDEX. 



Perseus, 124; (H.) 268, Ac, 336. 

Persians, 68, &c., 86, 158, 222, 244, &c., 402, 

403, 405, 417. 
Pertinax, 399. 
Perusia, 312, 374. 
Pcscennlus Niger, 399. 
Petilius Cerealis, 390. 
Peter, 386. . . 
Petreius, 368, 370. 
Phalaecus, 238, 239. 
Phaleron, 184. 
Pharaohs, 95, 96. 

Pharnabazus, 216, 217, 224, <fc., (U.) 251. 
Pharnaces, 361, 369. 
Pharsalus, 368. 
PhavUus, 238. 
Pheidon, 142, 234. 
Pherae, 339. 
Pherecydes, 166. 
Phidias, 194, 196. 
Philip, king of Macedonia, 232, 234, &c.; 

(II.) 246; (IV.) 258; (V.) 263, 264, &c.; 

(VI.) 403, 404. 
Philippi, 373. 
Philomelus, 237. 
Philopoemen, 263, 265, <ec 
Philotas, 250. , 

Phlius, 228. 
Phoeaea, 163, 164. 
Phocians, 176, 237. 
Phocion, 240, ic, 256. • 
Phocis, 114. 
Phoeliidas, 229. 
Phoenicia, 81, 4c., 245. 
Phormio, 201. 
Phraates, 375. 
Phraortes, 65. 
Phrynichus, 195, 214, &c 
Phul, 75. 
Phyle, 220. 
Picenum, 394. 
Pindar, 166, 195, 244. 
Piraeus, 184, 220, 258. 
Pisandaer, 225, 226; (II.) 215, 216. 
Pi.'iistratus, 154, &c. 
Piso, 383; (Calpurnius), 386; (Licinianus), 

388. 
Pistoria, 362. 
Phicentia, 327, 428, 429. 
Plague at Athens, 200. 
Plataeans, 173, 176, 179, 182, 199, 201, 230. 
Plato, 223. 
Plebeians, 285, 287, 289, 293, 209, &c., 304, 

305, 308, 313. 
Pleistarchus, 181. 

Plinv, the elder. 391; the younger, 391. 
Plotina, 393, 394. 
Plutarch, 395. 
Pollentia, 422. 
Pollio, 377. 
Pollux, 295. 
Polybiades, 229. 
Polybius, 268. 269, 318, 336. 
Polycrates, 165, 167. 
Polysperchon, 254, 255, 257. 
Pompeii, 391. 
Pompeius Rufus, 353. 
Pompey, 273, 356, 360, 4c., 369, Cneius and 

Pextus, 370, 374. 
Pontiffs, 285. 

Pontius, 309, 312; Telesinus, 355. 
Pontus, 274, 352, <tc. 
Poppaea Sabina. 386, 387. 
Porsenna, 294, &c. 



Porto, 427. 

Porus, 248. 

Posidouia, Paestum, 162. 

P-istumius, 309. 

Postumus, 405, 406. 

Potidaea, 198, &c., 228. 

Praetor, 305. 

Priene, 163", 164. 

Probus, 407. 

Procopius, 418. 

Prudentius, 422. 

Prusias, 2G5, 335. 

Prytaneum, 154. 

Psammenitus, 68, 109. 

Psammetichus, 107, &c. 

Psamniis, 108. 

Pseudo-Philip, 269. 

Ptolemy Alorites, 235; (Ceraunus). 259, 
2t5; (Dionysus), 369; (Kuergetes), 272, 
275, Ac; (Epiphanes), 265, 276; (Pbila- 
delphus), 275, 316; (Philometor), 276; 
(Philopator), 275; (Soter\ 245, &c., 254, 
&c., 256. 274, &c. 

Publilius Philo, 308; (Volero), 299. 

Pulcheria, 427. 

Punic Wars, 321, &c., 328, Ac, 337, Ac. 

Puujaub, 248. 

Pydna, 268, 336. 

Pylos, 203, &c. 

Pyramids, 101, 102. 

Pyrrhus, 258, 259, 314, Ac, 318. 

Pythagora.s, 167, Ac, 

Pythian Games, 148, 239. 

QtTrN"nLi.us, 406. 
Quirinal UiU, 284. 
Quirinus, 284 ^ 

Rabagaisus, 422. 

Raetia, 406. 

Rameses, 105. 

Ramnes, 284. 

Rando, 417. 

Rascna, 280. 

Ravenna, 307, 384, 422, 424, 428. 

Regillus, Lake, 295. 

Regulus, 322, Ac. 

Remus, 322. 

Rhea Silvia, 283. 

Rhegium, 209, 280, 315, 321. 

Rhodes, 227, 336. 

Rhone, 328. 

Ricimer, 428, Ac. 

Romans, 250, 264, Ac, 321, Ac. 

Rome, 281, Ac, 303, 304, 423, 429. 

Romulus, 283, Ac. 

Rosetta Stone, 95. 

Roxana, 248, 254. 

Rubicon, 367. 

Rufinus, 421. 

Rufus, 387. 

Sabaco, 106. 

Sabellians. 279, 281, 306, 361. 

Sabines, 284, 294. 

Sabinus, 389. 

Sacred Mount, 296. 

Sacred Wars, 237, 239, 240. 

Sadyattes, 89, 163. 

Saguntum, 327. * 

Salamis, 179, 180, 219 ; (in Cyprus), 256. 

Salii, 285. 

Salmanassar, 75, 86. 

Samnites, 279, 306, Ac, 309, Ac, 315, 351 



INDEX. 



465 



Samos, 164, 165, 183, 193, 215, 241. 

Sanscrit, 47. 

Sappho, 166. 

Sapor I., 403. 

Sardaaapalus, 74, 75. 

gardes, 172, 225. 

Sardinia, 317, 322, 325, 341. 

Sarmatians, 394, 397, 408, 414, 417. 

Sassanidae, 64, 402. 

Saturninus, 350, 

Saxons, 409, 417, 420. 

Snarpheia, 337. 

Scione, 206. 

Scipio Nasica, 345. 

Scipios, 273, 329, &c., 331, Ac, 335, 338, 342, 343. 

Scythia, 31. 

Segestes, 380, 383. 

Seianus, 381, &c. 

Seleueia, 271, 394, 397. 

Seleuces I.. 255, 257, 271 ; (H.) 272; (HI.) 272- 

(IV.) 27.3. 
Sellnus, 209, 394. 
Sellasia, 263. 
Semiramis, 63, 73. 
Semitic Race, 32, 33. 
Sempronius Longus, 329. 
Senate (of Rome), 284, 288, 292, 377. 
Seneca, 386. 
Sennacherib, 106. 
Senones, 312, 313. 
Sentinuni, 312 
Sepias (Cape), 177. 
Septuagint, 275. 
Sertorius, 357. 
Servile War, 358. 
Servilius Ahala, 302-. 
Servius Tullius, 288, 289, 292. 
Sesostris, 104. 105. 
Sestos, 183, 244. 
Sethos, 244. 
Severus, 395; (Alexander), 402; (Septimius> 

399; (Valerius), 411. 
Seven Sages, 166. 
Sextius (Lucius), 304. 
Sicily, 161, 315, 316, 341, &c. 
Sicyon, 261, 269. 
Sidicincs, 306. 
Sidon, 82, Ac, 245. 
Silarus, 358. 
Silvan us, 415. 
Simonides (of Cos), 195. 
Sinope, 357. 
Siris, 314. 

Sirmiuni, 397, 408, 409. 
SitiUces, 200. 
Smerdia, 69. 

Social Wars, 236. 264, 351. 
Socrates, 218, 222. 
Sogdianus, 223. 
Soissons, 428. 
Solon, 66, 67, 145, 150, &a 
Sophocles, 195, 222. 
Sophonisbe, 332. 
Sosicles, 159. 
Sosthenes, 259. 

Spain, 327, &c., 335, Ac, 342, Ac, 357, 369, 424. 
Sparta, 135, &c., 173, 188, 196, Ac, 221, 258, 

260, Ac, 265, 267, Ac. 
Spartacus, 358. 

Spartans, 157, Ac, 173, 174, 337. 
Sphacteria, 203. 
Spoletium, 329, 405. 
Sporailes, 116. 
Spurius Cassius, 295, 297, Ac; (Maelius), 302. 



Stabiae, 391. 

Stageiros, 205. 

Stesichorus, 166. 

Stilicho, 421, Ac. 

Strassburg, 416. 

Suffetes, 319. 

Sulla, 270, 348, 349, Ac. 

Sulpicius Galba, 266; (Publius), 363. 

Susa, 255. 

Syagrius, 428. 

Sybaris, 168, 280. 

Syloson, 169. 

Symmachus, 417. 

Syphax, 331, 332. 

Syracuse, 161, 203, 210, Ac, 319, Ac, 331. 

Syria, 271, 361, 406. 

Syeeitia, 134. 

Tacitus, 390; (CTaudius), 40T. 

Taenaron, 252. 

Tanagra, 191. 

Tarentum, 311, 313, Ac, 331. 

Tarpeian Rock, 304. 

Taniuins, 281, 288, 290, Ac, 293, Ac 

Tarsus, 407, 411. 

Tatius (Titus), 284. 

Taxilcs, 248. 

Telamon, 326. 

Teleontes, 147. 

Teleutias, 227. 

Terentillus Area, 299. 

Terillus, 318. 

Tetvicus, 406, 407. 

Teuta, 326. 

Teutones, 348, 349. 

Thales, 167. 

Thapsus, 370 

Thebes (in Egypt), 93, 105 ; (in Greece), 114, 

229, Ac. 241, 243, Ac, 256, 270. 
Theagenes, 150. 
Themistocles, 176, Ac 
Theocles, 161. 

Theodoric I., 426; (11.) 428; (in.) 430. 
Theodcsius I., 419, Ac; (II.) 424, 4-^6, 427. 
Theramenes, 215, 216, 218, 219. 
Thermopylae, 113, 177, Ac, 243, 253, 267, 273, 

337 
Thermos, 262, 264. 
Theseus, 125, 147. 
Thespiae, 176, 179, 230. 
Thespis, 230. 

Thessalians, 131, 240, 244. 
Thcssalonicc, 258. 
Thessaly, 112, Ac 
Thimbron, 224. 
Thirhaka, 106. 

Thirty Tyrants, 219, Ac, 405. 
Thrat-e, 271. 

Thra«ybulu.s. 215, 216, 220, Ac, 222, 227. 
Thraxyllus, 216, 217. 

Thucydides, 192; (the historian), 205, 222. 
Thurii, 193, 210, 314. 
Thusnelda, 383. 
Tiberius, 379, 381, Ac 
Tibet, 54. 
Ticinus, 329. 
Tiglath-pileser, 75. 
Tigranes, 300. 
Tigranocerta, 360. 
Timoleon, 319. 
Timotheus, 230, 236. 
Tiribazus, 227. 
Tiridates, 3S6. 
Tisamenus, 132. 



466 



INDEX. 



Tissaphernps, 214, &c., 224, &e 

Tithraustes, 226, &c. 

Tities, 284. 

Titus, 388, 390, 391, ic. 

Tomyris, 68. 

Torismund, 426. 

Toroue, 206. 

Toulouse, 424. 

Trajan, 393. 

Trasimene Lake, 329. 

Trebia, 328. 

Treves, 409, 417. 

Triballi, 243. 

Tribes (in Rome), 289. 

Tribunes of the plebs, 296, 299, 305. 

Tripolis, 245. 

Triton (Lake). 317. 

TriumTirate, (1st), 363; (2d), 372. 

Troezcn, 178, 252. 

Trojan War, 126, 245. 

TuUia, 290. 

Tullus Hostilius, 286, &c. 

Tunis, 316. 

Tyre, 82, &c., 246. 

Tyrrhenians, 211. 

Tyrtaeus, 142. 

Twelve Tables, 300. 

TJl-PHILAS, 418. 
XJlpian, 400, 402. 
Ulpius Marcellus. 399. 
Umbrians, 279, 280, 281, 310, 312. 
Ursicinus, 415. 
Utica, 316. 

Valens, 417, &c. 

Valentinian I., 417; (II.) 419; (HI.) 424, 425, 

426. 
Valerian, 405. 

Valerius, 291 ; (Corvus), 305, 4c. 
Vandals, 425, 428. 



Varro, 330. 

Varus, 380. 

Vedas, 54. 

Veil, 284, 298, 302, &c. 

Venice, 426. 

Vercingetorix, 366. 

Verona, 404. 

Verus, 390, 397. 

Vesontio, 365. 

Vespasian, 387, 388, 389, fto. 

Vestal Virgins, 285. 

Vesuvius, 307, 391. 

Vetranio, 415. 

Veturius, 309. 

Aicramaditya, 45, 56. 

Vindex, Julius, 387. 

Virginia, 300. 

Virginius. 300. 

Viriathus, 342. 

Viridomarus, 326. 

Vitellius, 388, 389. 

Volscians, 297, 298, 304, 308. 

Volusianus, 404. 

Wallia, 424. 

Xanthippus, 175, 183; (IT.) 323. 

Xanthus, 164. 

Xenophanes, 167. 

Xenophon, 223, 224. 

Xerxes I., 109, 175, 4c., 223; (H.) 29L 

ZACTNTnos, 230. 
Zama, 333. 
Zarmizegethusa, 393. 
Zela, 369. 

Zend-Avesta, 58, Ac. 
Zeno. 167 : (II.) 430. 
Zenobia, 406, 407. 
Zopyrus, 71. 
I Zoroaater, 63. 



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BROWNE'S CLASSICAL LITERATURE. 

Second and improved Edition. (Xow read}-.) 

A IIISTOKY OF GllEEK CLASSICAL LITERATURE. 

BY THE REV. IL W. BROWNE, M.A., 

Professor of Classical Literature in King's College, London. 

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By the same Author, to match, (now ready.) 

A HISTORY OF ROMAN CLASSICAL LITERATURE. 

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I am very favourably impressed with (he work, from what I have seen of it. and hope to 
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■Mr. Tlrowno's present publication has great merit. His selection of materi.als is judiciously 
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leading charac'.eristics of the great clas.sical authors and their works. ******* 
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BY MARY SOxMERYILLE. 

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BUTLER'S ANCIENT ATLAS. 

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TEXT-BOOK OF SCRIPTURE GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY. (Just Issued.) 



OUTLINES OF SCRIPTURE GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY; 

Illustrating the Historical Portions of tlie Old and New Testaments. 

DESIGNED rOR THE USE OF SCUOOLS AND PKIVATE READING. 

BY EDAVARD HUGHES, F.R.A.S., F.G.S., 

Head Master of the Royal Naval Lower School, Greenwich, Ac. 

BASED UPON Coleman's historical geography op the bible. 

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The intimate connection of Sacred History with the geography and physio ; 
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neighboring nations, and of the topography and political divisions of the countries 
mentioned, coupled with the results of the latest investigations, by which Messrs. 
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throwing light on so many obscure portions of the Scriptures, verifying its accu- 
racy in minute particulars. Few more interesting class-books could thovofore be 
found for schools where the Bible forms a part of education, and none, perhaps, 
more likely to prove of permanent benefit to the scholar. Tlie intluence which 
the physici]! geography, climate, and productions of Palestine had upon the Jewish 
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A MANUAL OF ATs^ClENT GEOGRAPHY. 

BY LEONHARD SCIIMITZ, Pii. D. 

Eector of the High School, Edinburgh, &c. 
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The object of the author has been to prepare a manual for the student, whieli, 
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lated to supply a want that has been long felt and acknowledged. 



BY THE SAME AUTnOIl — (Latei.t ruiiUSBEP.) 

A MANUAL OF ANCIENT HISTOEY, 

FROM THE REMOTEST TIMES TO THE OVERTHROW OF 
THE WESTERN EMPIRE, A. D. 470. 

BY Dr. LEONHARD SCHMITZ, F. R. S. E., 

• Rector of the Ili'rh School, Kdinburgh. 

With Copious Chronological Tables. 

In one handsome royal 12mo. volume of four hundred and sixty-six pages, 
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"The history is constructed with art, and 
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come by compilers of manuals, is, to present 
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Fpace of time, and including many nations 
and systems, and to reconcile the introduction 
of characteristic details with the general pro- 
portions of the narrative. Dr. Schmitz lias 
happily surmounted these hardships of his 
task, and lias produced a full and masterly 
survey of .incient history. His manual is one 
of the best that can be placed in the student's 
hands." — Athenaum. 

"The work is all that, and more than, he 
^represents it to be. AVe have closely examined 
fue.h portions of the history as we are best 
acquainted with, and have been unable to 
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curacy of the work, therefore, seems to us 
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nrranfred : and the minute index added to this 
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shall be .surprised if it docs not become a 



popular text-book in our high schools and 
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intelliffent general readers." — A'. 3'. Commer- 
cial Advertiser. 

From Prof. J. T. C/iamplin, frala'vtlle 
CoUff/e, Maine. 
" T have no hesitation in saying that it is 
by far the best manual of Ancient History 
with which I am acquainted. The introduc- 
tion of the history of the non-classical nations 
is an entirely new and important feature, and, 
with the greater completeness of the chrono- 
logical tables, and the general excellence of 
the whole, cannot fail to commend it to 
publie favor. 1 shall recommend it to uij" 
classes with pleasure." 

From W. J. Clarice, Esq., Gcorgetorvn, D. C. 

'•' One of the best compends of Ancient His- 
tory with which I am familiar. The most 
philosophical in its arrangement, it combines 
most admirably the two elements most difti- 
cnlt to unite — cODci.'=eness and fulness. I 
shall substitute it for the work at present 
used in my classes, to which I give it an im- 
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SCHMITZ AND ZUMPT'S CLASSICAL SERIES. 

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The series consists of the following volumes, clearly and handsomely printed, 
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and English-Latin, nearly 900 pages, strongly bound in leather $1.30 

Part I., Latin-English, aDout 500 pages, " " " 90 

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The very numerous recommendations of this series from classical teachers of the 
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age, and adapted to the improved modern sj'steins of education. 

With your ClnsKical Series I am well arquaintej. and have no hesitancy in recomniending 
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I regard this series of Latin text-books as decidedly superior to any others with which I 
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Having examined several of them with some degree of care, we have no hesitation in pr?)- 
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I can {rive you no better proof of the value which I sot on thom than bj' making use of 
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th.in I have ever seen compressed into a book of this kind. It ought to l>e the student's 
constant companion in liis recitations. It Ijas the extraordinary recommendation of being 
at once portable and comproheusivo. — Prqf. R. X. Newell. Masonic College, Tenn. 

That invaluaT>lo little work, the Classical IManual, has been used by mo for some time. I 
would not. on any account, be without it. You have not perhaps been informed that it has 
recently been introduced in the High School of this place. Its typographical accuracy is 
rcmjiirkiible.— iJc/;ma?d II. C7uise, Harvard University. 



10 BLANCTIARD & LEA'S PUBLICATIONS.— (E(Zi(cn<jo)ia7.) 

Shaw's English Literatui'e— Lately Published. 
OUTLINES OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. 

By Thomas B. Shaw, Professor of English Literature in the Imperial Alexander 
Lyceum, St. Petersburg, Second American Edition. With a Sketch of Ame- 
rican Literature, by Henry T. Tcckerman', Esq. In one large aud handsomo 
volume, royal 12mo., of about five hundred pages. $1.15. 

The object of this work is to present to the student, xvithin a moderate compass, 
a clear and connected view of the history and productions of English Literature. 
To accomplish this, the author has followed its course from the earliest times to 
the present age, seizing upon the more promineut " Schools of Writing," tracing 
their causes and effects, aud selecting the more celebrated authors as subjects for 
brief biographical and critical sketches, analyzing their best works, and thus pre- 
senting to the student a definite view of the development of the language and 
literature, with succinct descriptions of those books and men of which no educated 
person should be ignorant. He has thus not only supplied the acknowledged 
want of a manual on this subject, but by the liveliness and power of his style, the 
thorough knowledge he displays of' his topic, and the variety ^of his subjects, ha 
has succeeded in producing a most agreeable reading-book, which will captivute 
the mind of the scholar, aud relieve the monotouj' of drier studies. 

Its merits I had not now for the first time to learn. I have used it fortwo years as a text- 
book, with the greatest satisfaction. It was a happy conception, admirably executed. It is 
all that a text->x)ok on such a subject can or need be, comprising a judicious selection of 
materials, easil.v yet efToctively wrought. The author attempts just as much as he ought to, 
aud docs well all that lie attempts; and the be.st of the book is the genial spirit, the genuine 
love of genius and its works which thoroughly pervades it, and makes it just what you want 
to put into a pupil's hands. — Professor J. V. Kaymond, Utiiversity of liochestcr. 

Of •' Shaw's English Literature" I can hardly say too much in praise. I hope its adoption 
and use as a text-book will correspond to its great merits. — Prof. J. C. Pickard, III. Colltge, 

BOLMAR'S COMPLETE FRENCH SERIES. 

Blanchard and Lea now publish the whole of Bolmar's Educational WorlvS, form- 
ing a complete scries for the acquisition of the French language, as follows: 

BOLMAR'S EDITION OF LEViZAC'S THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL 
GRAMMAR OF THE FRENCH LANGUAGE. AYith numerous Corrections 
and Improvements, and the addition of a complete Treatise on the Genders of 
French Nouns and the Conjugation of the French Verbs, Regular and Irregu- 
lar. Thirty-fifth edition. In one 12mo. volume, leather. $1.00. 

BOLMAR'S "COLLECTION OF COLLOQUIAL PHRASES, on every topic 
necessary to maintain conversation; arranged under different heads; with nu- 
merous remarks on the peculiar pronunciation and use of various words. The 
whole so disposed as considerably to facilitate the acquisition of a correct pro- 
nunciation of the French. In one 18mo. volume, half bound. 38 cts. 

BOLMAR'S EDITION OF FENELON'S AVENTURES DE TELEMAQUE. 
In one 12mo. volume, half bound. 55 cts. 

BOLMAR'S KEY TO THE FIRST EIGHT BOOKS OF TELEMAQUE, for 
the literal and free translation of French into English. In one 12mo. volume, 
half bound. 65 cts. 

BOLMAR'S SELECTION OF ONE HUNDRED OF PERRIN'S FABLES, 
accompanied with a Key, contaiuing the text and a literal and a free transla- 
tion, arranged in such a manner as to point out the difference between the 
French and the English idiom; also, a figured pronunciation of the French. 
The whole preceded by a short treatise on the Sounds of the French language 
as compared with those of English. In one 12mo. volume, half bound. 75 cts. 

BOLMAR'S BOOK OF FRENCH VERBS, wherein the Model Verbs, and seve- 
ral of the most difficult, are conjugated Aflirmativelj-, Negatively, Interroga- 
tively, and Negatively and Interrogatively, containing also numerous Notes 
and Directions on the Different Conjugations, not to be found in any other book 
published for the use of English scholars ; to which is added a complete list of 
all the Irregular verbs. In one 12mo. volume, half bound. 60 cts. 
The long and extended sale with which these works have been favoured, and 

the constantly increasing demand which exists for them, renders unnecessary any 

explanation or recommendation of their merits. 



BLANCHARD &, LEA'S PUBLICATIOXS.— (SZHca^/oxa?.) 11 



HERSCHELLS ASTRONOMY. 



OUTLINES OF ASTRONOMY. 

BY SIR JOHN F. W. HERSCnEL, Baet., E.R.S., <tc. 

A New American, from the Fourth and Revised London Edition. 

In one liandsome crown octavo volume, with Plates and Wood-cuts. $1.60. 

The present work is reprinted from the last London Edition, which was care- 
fully revised by the author, and in which he embodies the latest investigations and 
discoveries. It may therefore be regarded as fully on a level with the most ad- 
vanced state of the science, and even better adaj^ted than its pi-edecessors as a 
full and reliable text-book for advanced classes. 

A few commendatory notices are subjoined, from among a large number with 
which the publishers have been favored. 

A rich mine of all that is most valuable in modem Astronomy. — Professor D. Ohnstead, 
Tale College. 

As a work of reference and study for the more advanced pupils, who yet arc not prepared 
to avail themselves of the higher matliematic^, 1 know of no work to loe compared with 
it. — Prof. A. Caswell, Brown University. It. 1. 

This treatise is too well known, and too highly appreciated in the scientific world, to need 
new praise. A distinguishing merit in this, as in the other productions of the author, is, 
that the language in which the profound reasonings of science are conveyed is so perspicuous 
that the writer's meaning can never bo misunderstood. — Prof. Sainud Jones, Jefferson 
College, Pa. 

I know no treatise on Astronomy comparable to " llerschel's Outlines." It is admirably 
adapted to the necessities of the student. Vi'e have adopted it as a text-book in our Col- 
lege. — Prof. J. F. Crocker, Madison College, Pa. 

As far as I am able to judge, it is the best work of its clafis in any language. — Prof. James 
Curler/, Georgetown College. 

It would not become me to speak of the scientific merits of such a work by such an author; 
but I may he allowed lo say, that 1 most earne.'-lly wish that it might supersede every book 
used as a text-book on Astronomy in all our institutions, except perhaps those where it is 
studied mathematically. — Prof. i\'. Tillinghast, Bridgcwater, Mass. 



CHEMICAL TEXT-BOOK FOR STUDENTS. 

New Editiou, now ready. (July, 1859.) 

E L E ra E N T A rY" C H E M I S T R Y, 

THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL. 

BY GEORGE FOWNES, Ph. D., &c. 

"SVith. Numerous Illustrations. 

Prom the Seventh London Edition. 

EDITED BY ROBERT BRIDGES, M. D. 

In one largo royal 12rao. volume, containing GOO pages, clearly printed on small 
type, with 197 Illustrations on Wood. Cloth, §1.50; leather, $1.65 

■\Te know of no better text-book, especiajlv in the difficult department of Organic Chemistry, 
\ipon which it is particularly full and satisfMctory. AVe would recommend it to preceptors 
!is a capital " oflice-book" for their students who are beginners in Chemi.<try. It is copiously 
illustrated with excellent wood-cuts, and altogether admirably "got up." — JV. J. Medical 
Peporter. 

A standard manual, which has long enjoyed the reputation of embodying much know- 
ledge in a small space. The author has achieved the difficult task of condensation with 
masterly tact. Ilis book is concise without being dry, and brief without being too dog 
matical or general.— Virginia Medical and Surgical Journal. 

The work of Dr. Fownes has long been before the public, and its merits have been fully 
appreciated as the best text-book on Chemistry now in existence. AVe do not, of course, 
pl.ice it in a rank superior to the works of Brande, Graham, Turner, Gregory, or Gme^ui, 
but wo say that, as a work for students, it is preferable to any of them.— iorwio?; Journal of 
Medicine. 



12 



BLANCIIARD & LEA'S VVBLICATIOI^S.— {Educational.) 



A NEW AND COMPLETE CLASSICAL ATLAS.— (Just Ready.) 

AN ATLAS OF CLASSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 

CONSTROCTED BY WILLIAM HUGHES, AND EDITED BY GEORGE LONG. 

With a Sketch of Ancient (ileography, and other Additions, 

BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. 
Containing jifty-iico Colored Maps a)id Plans, on twenty-two large imperial quarto 

Plates. 

BEAUTIFULLY ENGRAVED OX STEEL, IN THE CLEAREST AND MOST FINISHED STYLE. 

\VITH AN INDEX OF PLACES. 

In one very handsome volume, strongly half bound. $3.00. 



LIST OF PLATES. 



\. THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE AN- 
CIENTS. — The World according to 
HoMKR (B.C. 900). — The World ac- 
cording TO IIecataeus (.about B.C. 
.500). — The M'orld according to 
Herodotus (about B.C. 440). — The 
Would according to Democuitus 
(about B.C. 300). — The World ac- 
cording to Eratosthenes and 
Strabo (from about B.C. 200 to a.d. 
20). — Western Europe according 
to Strabo. — The AVorld according 
to Ptolemy (about a.d. 160). — India 
according to Ptolemy. — Britain 
according to Ptolemy. 

2. THE WORLD AS KNOWN TO 
THE ANCIENTS, with the Boun- 
dary OF THE Persian Empire under 
Cyrus. 

o. EMPIRE OF ALEXANDER THE 
GREAT, avith the adjoining Re- 
gions. 

4. THE PROVINCES OF THE RO- 
MAN EMPIRE (A.D. 119), 

5. BRITANNIA, 
fi. GALLIA. 

7. HISPANIA. 

8. ITALIA (Northekn Part). 

9. ITALIA (Southern Part).— Cor- 
sica AND Sardinia. 

10. PLAN OF ROME. 

11. THE ROMAN TERRITORY and 

THE neighboring CoUJJTRY, OH UU 

enlar<red scale. 

12. SICILIA. 

13. SYRACUSiE.— THE BAY OF NA- 
PLES and adjacent Part op Cam- 



6 78 -3 



pania. — The two Ports of Brun- 

DUSIUM. 

14. MACEDONIA, THRACIA, ILLY- 
PtlCUM, and the Provinces op the 
Middle and Lower Danube. 

15. GRAECIA, INCLUDING EPIRUS 
AND THESSALIA, WITH PART 
OF MACEDONIA. 

IG. PART OF ATTICA. WITH BOEO- 
TIA, PHOCIS, LOCRIS, MEGARIS, 
etc., on an cnlarjred scale. 

17. PLAN OF ATHENS. — ATTHENS 
AND ITS HARBORS. 

18. PELOPONNESUS, with Attica 
and Part of Boeotia. 

19. THE COASTS AND ISLANDS OP 
THE AEGEAN SEA. 

20. ASIA MINOR AND THE NORTH- 
ERN PART OF SYRIA. 

21. PALAESTINA, WITH PART OF 
SYRIA. — Plan of Jerusalem. 

22. ASSYRIA AND THE ADJACENT 
COUNTRIES. 

. MAURITANIA, NUMIDIA, AND 
AFRICA. — The African Coast from 
the Syrtis Minor to Egypt. — En- 
larged Plan op the Carthaginian 
Territory. 

24. ARABIA PETRAEA AND PART 

OF EGYPT, INCLUDING THE DelTA. 

25. GERMANIA MAGNA, with the 
Provinces of the Upper Danube. 

26. Troja. — Thermopylae. — Mara- 
thon. — Plataea. — Mantinea. — 
Lkuctra. — Route of Xenophon. — 
Granicus — Issus. — Arbela.^ — Thra 
ciAN Bosporus. — Alexandria. 



It will be observed that, in addition to a very thorough series of maps of all 
the countries known to the ancients, the Atlas contains a large number of topo- 
graphical plans, on an enlarged scale, of important places, elucidating in many 
ways passages in the classical writers. In this manner it is believed that much 
assistance will be rendered to the student who desires to obtain a clear crmpre- 
hension of ancient history. 



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